When we think of language, jewelry is not the first thing that comes to mind. However, jewelry is a precious manifestation of many and varied systems of signs and symbols – as precious as the message itself. Jewelry serves as a means of communication, and hence is quite literally a “carrier of meaning.”
Schmuckmuseum Pforzheim has been inspired by this aspect to mark the 500th anniversary of Johannes Reuchlin’s death with an exhibition of calligraphy to highlight the humanist’s appreciation of languages and, concomitantly, of tolerance and peaceful understanding.
Elegantly Meaningful – Signs and Symbols in Jewelry and Printed Works
25.06.2022 to 06.11.2022
Jewelry has been playing an important role across different epochs and cultures as one of the many ways to express ourselves. Not least due to its high symbolic value, it is also a precious gift.
1509 Reuchlin’s letter to Konrad Mutianus Rufus, a German Renaissance humanist.
Above script from Stadtarchiv Pforzheim
In addition, video installations in several rooms were showcasing texts from various eras of human history, and the “Bios” installation from the ZKM (Center for Art and Media) Karlsruhe, featuring a robot that copies a Bible manuscript in “handwriting,” was be on display. Moreover, the theme of “language in jewelry” was the leitmotif throughout the permanent exhibition.
After all, jewelry has been playing an important role across different epochs and cultures as one of the many ways to express ourselves. Not least due to its high symbolic value, it is also a precious gift, for example for the birth of a child or on a wedding day.
From a print by Thomas Anshelm, Hagenau, 1519
Stadtarchiv Pforzheim
The name of God in different languages and alphabets from Reuchlin’s commentary on his Latin translation of the “Quaestiones ad Antiochum ducem”, which were wrongly attributed to Athanasios of Alexandria.
Jewelry is a precious manifestation of many and varied systems of signs and symbols – as precious as the message itself.
Quite often, jewelry accompanies its owner to their grave and thus even after death. In a related exhibition, entitled “Cipher – the Secret Language of Jewelry,” students at Pforzheim’s Goldsmithing School showcased their creations at the Schütt – Schmuck & Edelsteine jewelrs across from the Reuchlinhaus.
