The Fascination of Jewellery. 7000 Years of Jewellery Art
Exhibition
/
17 Dec 2024
-
17 Dec 2025
Published: 19.12.2024
MAKK. Museum of Applied Arts Cologne
- Mail:
- makk
stadt-koeln.de
- Phone:
- +4922122123860
- Curator:
- Petra Hesse, Lena Hoppe
- Management:
- Christine Drabe
From left to right: Bangle with ram heads, 550-330 BC, Sasanian Empire.
KNELL #3 Pendant by Karin Pontoppidan, 2016. Dragon Fish Brooch by Eugène Feuillâtre, 1900. Alpine Rose & Stars brooch by Jantje Fleischhut, 2007.
© Detlef Schumacher
KNELL #3 Pendant by Karin Pontoppidan, 2016. Dragon Fish Brooch by Eugène Feuillâtre, 1900. Alpine Rose & Stars brooch by Jantje Fleischhut, 2007.
© Detlef Schumacher
© By the author. Read Klimt02.net Copyright.

With The Fascination of Jewellery, the MAKK of Cologne opens the first permanent comprehensive exhibition of its outstanding jewellery collection. Featuring some 370 selected exhibits, seven millennia of jewellery art will be presented in all their various facets, ranging from ancient oriental gems from the 5th millennium BC through to contemporary jewellery.
The concept developed by the curators Petra Hesse and Lena Hoppe envisages a combination of chronological as well as cross-epochal and cross-cultural content such as symbolism, memory, luxury, conventions, gender and identity. The different subjects allow diverse and individual approaches to the field of jewellery art. By way of examples, they provide an introduction to the many facets of jewellery design and offer insights into the social, societal, emotional and symbolic aspects of jewellery.
With around 1,700 pieces, the MAKK's jewellery collection spans a period of 7,000 years – which is what makes it so unique and diverse. The particular focal points are the works from antiquity, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance and the 19th century.
Elisabeth Treskow, perhaps the most renowned 20th century goldsmith, who lives and works in Cologne, donated her collection of antique gems and her study collection of antique jewellery to the MAKK. Her own work, which reintroduced the ancient technique of granulation into the art of jewellery, is also represented in the collection.
The 19th century – one of the richest periods in European jewellery – is represented with works by Lucien Falize, Jules Wièse, Eugène Fontenay, Carlo Giuliano and the Castellani brothers, among others.
Numerous other goldsmiths and jewellery artists of the 20th and 21st centuries are also represented in the collection, including René Lalique, Karl Gustav Hansen, Raymond Templier, Hildegard Risch, Ebbe Weiss-Weingart, Friedrich Becker, Emmy van Leersum, Peter Skubic, Falko Marx, Wendy Ramshaw, Peter Chang, Dieter Roth, E. R. Nele, Johanna Dahm, David Bielander, Annamaria Zanella, Svenja John, Karen Pontoppidan and Sam Tho Duong.
Some of the exhibited pieces have been acquired by the MAKK, many were donated and some are on permanent loan.
>> Explore the MAKK Jewellery Collection's Online Catalogue HERE
With around 1,700 pieces, the MAKK's jewellery collection spans a period of 7,000 years – which is what makes it so unique and diverse. The particular focal points are the works from antiquity, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance and the 19th century.
Elisabeth Treskow, perhaps the most renowned 20th century goldsmith, who lives and works in Cologne, donated her collection of antique gems and her study collection of antique jewellery to the MAKK. Her own work, which reintroduced the ancient technique of granulation into the art of jewellery, is also represented in the collection.
The 19th century – one of the richest periods in European jewellery – is represented with works by Lucien Falize, Jules Wièse, Eugène Fontenay, Carlo Giuliano and the Castellani brothers, among others.
Numerous other goldsmiths and jewellery artists of the 20th and 21st centuries are also represented in the collection, including René Lalique, Karl Gustav Hansen, Raymond Templier, Hildegard Risch, Ebbe Weiss-Weingart, Friedrich Becker, Emmy van Leersum, Peter Skubic, Falko Marx, Wendy Ramshaw, Peter Chang, Dieter Roth, E. R. Nele, Johanna Dahm, David Bielander, Annamaria Zanella, Svenja John, Karen Pontoppidan and Sam Tho Duong.
Some of the exhibited pieces have been acquired by the MAKK, many were donated and some are on permanent loan.
>> Explore the MAKK Jewellery Collection's Online Catalogue HERE
MAKK. Museum of Applied Arts Cologne
- Mail:
- makk
stadt-koeln.de
- Phone:
- +4922122123860
- Curator:
- Petra Hesse, Lena Hoppe
- Management:
- Christine Drabe
-
From Louise Bourgeois to Yoko Ono. Jewellery by Female Artists
21Nov2025 - 26Apr2026
MAKK. Museum of Applied Arts Cologne
Köln, Germany -
Arnoldsche weekend art gallery #18. Martin Kargruber Sculpture and Ernst Gamperl Wood Artworks
07Nov2025 - 09Nov2025
Galerie AK2
Stuttgart, Germany -
Otherselves by Noon Passama
01Nov2025 - 01Feb2026
Museum Arnhem
Arnhem, Netherlands -
Leaves and Love by Meira Rauta and Astari G. Swatantri
25Oct2025 - 02Nov2025
Helsinki Winter Garden
Helsinki, Finland -
Dinner Is Served. A Culinary Trip around the World
24Oct2025 - 19Apr2026
Pforzheim Jewellery Museum
Pforzheim, Germany -
Precious Grotesqueries: The Jewels of William Harper
23Oct2025 - 12Dec2025
Les Enluminures
New York, United States -
La memoria delle superfici by Maria Rosa Franzin
10Oct2025 - 07Nov2025
kunst.wirt.schaft
Graz, Austria -
Shining Despair in Madrid
10Oct2025 - 11Nov2025
Lalabeyou Gallery
Madrid, Spain -
Body Geometry by Banfsheh Hemmati
09Oct2025 - 31Oct2025
DIFC
Dubai, United Arab Emirates -
I Don't Shine, I Have Something to Say 2025
05Oct2025 - 26Oct2025
Fondazione Querini Stampalia
Venice, Italy -
Remix. Works from 2004 to 2024 by Iris Bodemer
04Oct2025 - 31Oct2025
Galeria Reverso
Lisbon, Portugal -
Chronicle of things gone by. Ketli Tiitsar
04Oct2025 - 18Oct2025
Four Gallery
Umeå, Sweden -
Bene Factum Jewels
03Oct2025 - 31Oct2025
Centro de artesanía CYL Valladolid
Valladolid, Spain -
Aurum by Petra Class
03Oct2025 - 31Oct2025
Patina Gallery
Santa Fe, United States -
Blue Sea, Resting Mountain by Karin Johansson
02Oct2025 - 25Oct2025
Platina
Stockholm, Sweden