Teachers' resource: Jewellery & adornment

 

This resource shows how primary and secondary school teachers can use the Victoria and Albert Museum's collection of jewellery to support teaching and learning in the Religious Education, Art & Design, History and English areas of the curriculum. The activities can be adapted for students at Key Stage 1 onwards. Activities include:

• What is body adornment?
• Jewellery in stories
• Exaggerating head and body shape
• Wire jewellery 

There is also a 'Find out more' section.

The activities are designed to encourage students to consider body adornment in broader terms than jewellery and fashion, and to think about related social and cultural issues. Each activity includes suggestions on preparing a visit, activities to do at the V&A, and ways to follow up back at school.

What is body adornment?

This activity is adaptable for Key Stages 2, 3 and 4 and can be used to support teaching and learning in Religious Education, History and Art & Design.

Body adornment includes tattooing, decorative scarring, make-up and body-piercing, as well as jewellery. It adds beauty or interest to the person, or makes statements about the wearer. The boundary between adornment and jewellery is not always clear: hair ornaments are both adornment and jewellery. The V&A has some objects used in body-piercing and make-up, but the collection is strongest on jewellery, with examples from many cultures.

Before your visit

You could discuss with students their own experiences of adornment and jewellery. Talk about whether they use any, their likes and dislikes, what they wear, and how often. Encourage them to be aware of the very personal nature of their choices by asking them to compare their preferences with those of relatives and friends.

At the V&A

In the South Asia gallery (Room 41) and on Level 2 of the British Galleries (Rooms 52-58), find and record examples of jewellery and adornment, in both paintings as well as objects, that might have been used for the following reasons:

To display wealth and status

Students should have no difficulty finding objects made from precious materials such as silver, gold and gems. In societies where wealth was power, these indicated the status of the wearer.

To denote rank, authority or political allegiance

In medieval Europe there were laws governing what people of particular classes and occupations could wear. Gold was often associated with membership of a society or order. For instance, both men and women wore chains around their neck or shoulders. In 15th-century England, the letters 'SS' were a sign of allegiance to the House of Lancaster and often denoted high office or royal connections.

In 16th-century India, only the Mughal emperor, his family and household could wear turban jewellery like the examples in the South Asia gallery. Later, the rules were relaxed and the privilege was extended to noblemen. In 1693 an order restricted the wearing of turban jewels to Sunday.

To show religious allegiance

Paternosters, crosses and small religious scenes were a visible demonstration of the Christian faith of the wearer. Skulls and skeletons served as reminders of mortality.

To symbolise sentimental attachment

Hearts, turtle doves and padlocks (which require the ‘key’ to the heart) were often given as tokens of affection. Lockets and brooches containing a portrait or lock of hair were worn both as a sign of attachment and of mourning.

To serve a practical purpose

Some forms of adornment are practical as well as decorative. They include cufflinks, tiepins, hairpins and watches, as well as  cloak clasps and brooches used to fasten clothing. Signet rings are used to make an impression in sealing wax.

Back at school

Talk about the reasons for body adornment. Discuss with students the items they studied at the V&A and suggest modern-day equivalents. See if they can think of any items of adornment that do not fit into the categories above. For example, are badges a statement about lifestyle, image, values, or propaganda, or do they signify membership of a certain group?

There are many occasions when the wearing of adornment is restricted. Debate why people may wish to wear adornment at school or work, and why they might not be permitted to do so (for example, public image or safety). You could present students with the case of someone who has been dismissed for wearing nose or lip rings. Ask them to write a letter to the local newspaper either attacking or defending the action.

Jewellery in stories

This activity is adaptable for Key Stages 1 and 2 Art & Design and English.

A number of myths, legends and traditional stories involve jewellery. In this activity students make a real piece of jewellery based on one in a fictional narrative.

Before your visit

Ask students to write the first draft of a short story that features a small brooch or pendant in the form of an animal or mythical creature. Students could either create their own stories from scratch, or adapt parts of a tale like Tolkien's book The Hobbit. One possible storyline is that of an animal, creature or person magically turned into a piece of jewellery, and reverting to its original form only at the end of the story.

At the V&A

During their visit to the V&A, students should draw examples of jewellery as well as other objects and designs with animals or mythological creatures. The Japan gallery (Room 45), the China gallery (Room 44) and the South Asia gallery (Room 41) contain many such examples, in textiles, ceramics, paintings, furniture and other artefacts. Drawing directly from these will give students ideas for making the jewellery described in their stories and perhaps suggest ways in which they can develop the narrative.

The students should draw various pieces and note how the materials and shape follow or emphasise the natural form of the animal. They could also look for shapes that could be used in jewellery designs: a circle or coil could be adapted to a ring, bracelet or necklace design, for example. In the Japan gallery the netsuke (miniature carved toggles used to attach pouches to the sash of a kimono, pronounced 'netskee') could provide inspiration. They illustrate a wide range of subjects from animals and fish to gods, demons and mythical creatures with grotesque faces. In the China gallery, most of the objects are large enough for the students to be able to see clearly the three-dimensional shapes. Bronze, jade and ceramic objects in the form of buffaloes, horses, owls, dogs, camels and rams could be adapted for jewellery.

Back at school

Students should incorporate ideas gained from the V&A visit into the final version of their short stories. The stories could be written out for display alongside the piece of jewellery. Using drawings made in the museum, students could experiment with plasticine before making up their brooches or pendants in modelling plastic, card or modelling clay. While the material is still pliable, remind students to consider how the piece is to be strung or mounted.

Exaggerating head & body shape

This activity is adaptable for Key Stages 2, 3, 4 and 5 Art & Design and Religious Education.

In many cultures, adornment is meant to exaggerate or alter the shape of a particular part of the body. Students can study examples of this approach at the V&A and then be given the task of producing a flamboyant item of adornment. They should design it to exaggerate body shape in a catwalk fashion show.

Before your visit

Students will need to research fashions from past and present and other cultures. They should concentrate on the areas of head/neck/shoulders, arms/hands and legs/ankles.

They could do a survey among friends and family, or by observing people in the street. They should record and draw the types of ornament they note.

At the V&A

Students should use the visit to find and draw items to use as the basis for later work. In the South Asia gallery (Room 41), there are many ornaments that have been designed specifically to draw attention to particular parts of the body. Students could look for these and use them as inspiration for their own designs.

The South Asia gallery also contains many pictures illustrating Indian traditions of body ornament. The large oil painting of A Native Lady of Umritsur shows a full set of jewellery for the head, ears, nose, neck, arms, hands, ankles and feet. The dramatic turban worn by Akali Sikhs is also on display. It holds steel rings that were used as throwing weapons.

Students can also seek inspiration from paintings, sculpture, armour and dress. In the Fashion gallery (Room 40), they can see how dress has exaggerated the body shape. The 'Undress' section shows how undergarments can change a person's silhouette. For example, bustles and hoops alter the way a dress flowed from the hips - in the 1740s and 1750s women wore hoop petticoats over 1.5m wide. In the gallery they will also find ornamental frills or ruffs that drew attention to the neck and elaborate cuffs that emphasised wrists and hands.

A variety of head ornaments can be found in the China gallery (Room 44) - in ancestor portraits, on tomb guardians and other sculpture figures, and on the carved stone head that visitors are encouraged to touch. The samurai armour and helmets in the Japan gallery (Room 45) were more decorative than practical but were based on battle armour of an earlier period. The masks were added for ceremonial purposes.

Back at school

Students should develop their sketches into a design for an item of adornment to be worn on the catwalk. They should pay particular attention to how it will be attached to the body, how easily it can be put on or taken off during a fashion show. You may wish to restrict students to certain parts of the body, or to instruct them to adapt something they saw at the V&A to be worn on another part of the body (e.g. a shoulder or neck ruff to be worn on the knee or elbow).

Full-size prototypes can be made easily from simple materials like card, newspaper, fabric, foam and metal foil, using wire, cane, doweling, ribbon, string and tape to join sections and provide structure. Students should pay particular attention to safety. The ends of wire and cane should be either blunt or protected, and nothing constrictive should be placed around the neck.

Wire jewellery

This activity is adaptable for Key Stages 3, 4 and 5, Art & Design.

The activity sets students the task of designing and making their own jewellery out of wire, which has long been used in this way. A number of galleries at the V&A will spark off ideas. Students should look at objects that are not forms of adornment yet have strong outline shapes.

Before your visit

Students will need to be able to see a shape in its two-dimensional form. Give them a picture of a plant or animal and ask them to draw its silhouette. They should try to produce a recognisable outline using one continuous line, without lifting the pen or pencil from the paper. Select the wire that students will use for their jewellery. Copper or fairly stiff steel wire is suitable, and both are available in different thicknesses. Another option is plastic-coated wire as used in electronics or the garden. Younger students will find thinner wire easier to bend.

Give students a small length of the wire to practise bending into 'L' and 'U' shapes. Show how it is not possible to make the wire into a sharp V-shaped point. Students should modify their outline drawings to remove acute angles and replace them with curves of at least the same size as those produced during their experiments.

At the V&A

Students could use the Ironwork galleries (Rooms 113 and 114 on Level 3) to draw examples of metalwork, noting the types of line and shape that the metal makes where joins occur. With wire jewellery as with much metalwork, the outline is not created by a single wire, but instead uses many strands to build up the effect. Students could look for pieces in the Ironworks galleries with precise outlines, where the number of fine lines gives an impression of complexity.

Students could also draw the strong outline shapes that can be found in these galleries. Some designers of iron jewellery also designed railings and furniture. Signs, grilles, fanlights, balconies, gates and railings show the variety of patterns that can be made using line.

Back at school

Students should develop two-dimensional designs by arranging string or tightly twisted paper on board. Using white string or paper on a dark background, or contrasting colours, will make the pattern stand out clearly. When the design has been finalised, the string or paper can be glued to the 'ideas board' and if necessary hardened with a coating of diluted PVA glue. Three-dimensional models will need to be made of stiffer material than string, such as drinking straws or twisted paper reinforced with cocktail sticks. The models and ideas boards should be used as a guide when making up the actual pieces of jewellery.

Warn students of the dangers of putting unsterilised and unsuitable wire into pierced ears. If they are making earrings, the designs should be hung from bought earring hooks and butterflies.