A brief history of powerful gemstone amulets | V&A
868,319
Publicado 2023-03-07
From an ancient Roman amethyst statuette to a charming mythical creature carved from nephrite jade, a bloodstone scorpion ring to a crystal amulet container made to hold crayfish eyes – join Assistant Curator Sophie Morris as she takes us through some of her favourite treasures, revealing the hidden meaning, magical attributes and enduring power of gemstones.
00:00 What are gemstones?
00:24 Rock crystal crayfish eye amulet
02:00 Precious rock crystal reliquary cross
03:27 Historic lapidary book
04:48 Sapphire, hessonite garnet and peridot pendant
07:19 Turquoise-set amulet case
08:48 Nephrite jade mythical creature (qilin)
10:30 Scorpion and serpent-figure bloodstone intaglios
12:26 Ancient amethyst empress statuette
See more gemstones in our jewellery collection: www.vam.ac.uk/collections/jewellery
Todos los comentarios (21)
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Wow love this. Who is this passionate and eloquent lecturer?
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I’m a lapidary, gemologist, and geologist. This explains why there are so many containers for medicines were carved from precious stones. For instance I’ve seen quite a few small lapis lazuli bottles. Also a few small containers carved from carnelian.
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Excellent picks! More videos about jewelry, please. Old, anonymous ones rather than designer items.
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Good work by the media department. Appreciate that items in the thumbnail were in the video. Good form to have the book pages visible and oriented for the viewer. Cuts to clear closeups for details, not rushed. These things should be the norm from museums, but it seems the V&A is setting the bar high. Well done videographer and editor.
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As a retired estate jeweler this was wonderful!! I was just enthralled with not only the beauty but the stories behind each piece what a wonderful video more of this please!!❤
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Very elegantly done. Very knowledgeable presentation.
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The lady is very well balanced in both the factual and spiritual elements. It’s interesting how they chose to specify Tibet, China. She is specific about the type of garnet, the kind of jade (Nephrite) etc. Very well balanced.
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Sophie Morris is a wonderful presenter! I hope to see more videos from her.
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I could listen, learn, & enjoy any presentation by this eloquent & knowledgeable curator! What a gorgeous presentation - what amazing talent of the gem & jewelry workers going back over 1800 years!! Just incredible!! Thank you for creating & sharing this video!!
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Such a beautiful presentation. I did not want it to end.
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Please, more videos with Dr. Sophie Morris! She is a wonderful speaker with encyclopedic knowledge on her subjects.
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The ability to cut these stones so perfectly without modern tech, is just out of hand. Every piece is a masterpiece.
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Aside from these being very beautiful, I can't help but think that people have loved rocks and stones since the dawn of man.
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Gemstone sculptures are artworks like jewelries except they don't have to be high quality and yet as valuable as the flawless ones simply because they are carved by a talented artisan and it adds tremendous value into them.
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The ancient amethyst empress statuette is absolutely gorgeous 💜
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Thank you! I could watch a whole series of these videos, just about the amazing jewels in the V&A collection. I spent a full day at the V&A once, and didn't make it past the jewelry, lol.
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This presentation is beautiful & informative. 💎 In the Middle Ages, children of noble families were festooned with amulets to protect them. A red coral to protect the child from evil spirits, coats of arms of the family's patron saints to watch over the child, & a black jet fist to protect against the evil eye. The items presented are just gorgeous! Thank you for posting!
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Fantastic video! Would love to see more videos of the jewellery treasures in the museum, and learn about them ❤
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My favorite Victoria and Albert Museum video yet!
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That rock crystal cross is absolutely amazing!!! I am a college art history student and very much wish to be an assistant curator one day. It is so wonderful and rewarding to hear such an enthusiastic and well-spoken assistant curator here about objects so mystical and fascinating!! Thank you very much for this upload and for the whole series!!
