The Art of Silver Jewellery

The jewellery of the Chinese minorities and of the Golden Triangle have always exerted a special fascination on René van der Star because of their powerful design. Jewellery and textiles are often connected, and such is indeed the case with the Chinese minorities and related peoples. A number of publications show the textiles of the minorities, and add some jewels, but the present volume is the first book mainly dealing with the jewellery of the Chinese minorities while adding some textiles. Composing a new book and putting together a new exposition has once more been an exciting challenge for René van der Star. Some thirty years ago René van der Star started making distant journeys. From his youth he had been attracted to meeting different cultures, fascinated as he was by their individual customs. For René travelling and collecting have always been closely connected. Ethnic jewels have different layers of meaning, and trying to fathom them has always given an added value to his travels. In 2002 his collecting efforts found their culmination in the bilingual book Ethnic jewellery from Africa, Asia and Pacific Islands / Bijoux Ethniques d'Afrique, d'Asie et des íles du Pacifique, published by The Pepin Press Amsterdam and Singapore. The exhibition in The Kunsthal Rotterdam accompanying the publication of the book has also travelled abroad.