Art History Accessories

When I think about the upcoming school year and the prospect of going back to the classroom, I get excited at the thought of getting to wear some of my jewelry again. I like to pair my outfits and accessories with the topic that I am going to discuss with students, although the references are small and probably go unnoticed. Here are some of my art history accessories:

Pendant of a rosette from the Ishtar Gate. I got this at the Pergamon Museum gift shop.

For early Egyptian lectures, I wear a scarab with a pendant that came nestled within the Giza Pyramids Conqueror Challenge medal.

The back of the pendant has hieroglyphs which translate to say "Well done."

For later Egyptian lectures, I wear this necklace when I teach about King Tut's funerary mask and/or lapis lazuli.

This one I often wear when I teach about Minoan art (it has a nod to nature and Minoan metalwork/filagree), but it also works well to teach about other groups that are inspired by nature (the PRB and the Arts & Crafts, for example).

I inherited this necklace from Grandma Judy this past summer. She lived in Athens for a short time on a mission, and I think that I'll wear this drachma when I teach about early Greek art.

I usually wear this Athena (owl) pendant when I teach about the Parthenon and Athens. I got this necklace in Athens when I was on a study abroad as an undergrad.

For Byzantine lectures, I wear this pendant of Salus Populi Romani (Health of the Roman People). It is a copy of a Byzantine icon located at the Borghese chapel in the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome. I got this as a souvenir when I was in Rome as an undergrad.

I wear this pink rose when I teach about Rococo art. I bought this at a gift shop at Sanssouci Palace in Potsdam (outside Berlin).

My sister E gave me this ring when she went to Turkey on a trip. I like to wear a nod to Iznik tiles when I teach about pottery or ceramics.

This pendant looks like a feather to me, so I wear it when I teach about featherwork and/or the tapirage technique in indigenous art from the Americas.

The oval shape of this pendant reminds a little bit of Victorian brooches, so I wear this when I teach about the 19th century.

My Old Jewelry

For some reason, lately I've been thinking about the jewelry that I used to have as a child. Perhaps it's because I found my faux-Victorian "Happy Birthday" tin last summer, when I unearthed a box of my childhood things in my dad's attic. When I was little, I would put some of my keepsakes and jewelry in that tin. I'm pretty sure that I kept a white crystal turtle and a brown crystal hare in there; I got those keepsakes in second grade from my little boyfriend, David S., who went to some place on vacation (I think called the Crystal Forest?) and brought me some the souvenirs.

I also kept jewelry in a ballerina jewelry box (that looked very similar to this one) for a long time. I think I gave that box to one of my little sisters when I got older, and I may have given my sisters some of my jewelry too. I had several necklaces, including an "I [heart] Primary" necklace and an "LDS" necklace with my emerald birthstone.

If I remember right, I think hat I have both a blue-and-orange butterfly pin, and also a white butterfly bookmark. Both of them were made of enamel, and the bookmark had a little gold hook so that the butterfly would rest outside the book, along the spine. I remember that one of these was slightly loose (perhaps the pin?) and I could slightly wiggle the lower two wings. These are the closest things that I have been able to find online that match what I used to have:

I also had a rose pendant that was on a gold chain necklace with simulated pearls and a twist clasp. I'm not sure if it was from the 1928 Collection jewelry line, but the aesthetic is very similar to this one, although my pendant rested on a solid oval base and had this rose shape.

My favorite necklace, at least when I was a teenager, was a "House of Seven Gables" pendant that was shaped like the actual house. I got the necklace in the gift shop of the House of Seven Gables, during my 8th grade trip to Boston (and the surrounding area) and New York City. I found one pendant charm on,one which kind of resembles my pendant, but mine had more definite shape with precise lines (as well as a darker color). But this is kind of close:

I still have one bracelet that I wore as I child; I think I got it when I was around eight or nine years old. It is a braided silver bracelet that only lies flat against the wrist when it is curved in a certain direction; you can't clasp it if it the bracelet is flipped the other way and curved the opposite direction. It still fits me, and when I put it on for this picture I remembered how tricky it is to balance the clasp on your wrist while you try to fasten it:

Now that I have a daughter, I wish that I had hung onto some of my jewelry so that I could pass it along to her. I tend to get rid of things that I don't use regularly, so it's unsurprising that my childhood self had that same tendency to purge items that were too small or didn't get enough use as I got older. If only I had held onto some of these things!