gems, jewelry, Georgia, antique jewelry, ancient jewelry,

Jewellery and Metalwork in the Museums of Georgia introduces the reader to the world of ancient and highly original artistic traditions. The first part of the book presents Georgian jewellery and metalwork of pre-Christian times from the collection of the Janashia Museum of Georgia, the largest in Transcaucasia. The creative efforts of Georgian jewellers (3rd millennium B.C. – 3rd century A.D.) are illustrated here by golden necklaces, fine chains, diadems, torques, bracelets, signet-rings, pectorals, pins, fibulae, and gold and silver vessels inlaid in coloured stones, smalt, and enamels. The second part deals with the collection of medieval chased and embossed work from the Art Museum of Georgia, which comprises the collections of the former Church Museum and of the Ancient Arts Museum of the University of Georgia. The museum possesses a valuable collection of jewellery of the feudal epoch (4th–18th centuries), which boasts such gems as the 10th-century Chalice of Bedia, the Khakhuli triptych, and the works by the celebrated Georgian goldsmiths Beka and Beshken Opizari. The wonderful items represented in this book will certainly help the reader to appreciate the contribution of Georgia to world culture.