Faszination Schmuck

In the organizer's words:

7000 years of jewelry art at the MAKK

With "Fascination Jewelry", the Museum of Applied Arts Cologne (MAKK) is presenting the first comprehensive exhibition of its outstanding jewelry collection. With around 370 selected exhibits, jewelry art from different eras is presented in all its facets. The spectrum ranges from ancient oriental gems from the 5th millennium BC to contemporary jewelry and special pieces.

The exhibition is a combination of chronological as well as cross-epochal and cross-cultural content such as symbolism, memory, luxury, conventions, gender or identity. These themes enable diverse and individual approaches to this area. They introduce the many facets of jewelry design and provide insights into the societal, social, emotional and symbolic aspects of jewelry - then and now.
With around 1,700 works, the MAKK collection spans a period of 7,000 years - this is what makes it so unique and diverse.

Elisabeth Treskow, perhaps the most renowned goldsmith of the 20th century, who worked in Cologne, donated her collection of antique gems and her study collection of antique jewelry to the MAKK. Her own work, which reintroduced the ancient technique of granulation into the art of jewelry, is also represented in the collection.

The 19th century - one of the richest periods in European goldsmithing - features works by Lucien Falize, Jules Wièse, Eugène Fontenay, Carlo Giuliano and the Castellani brothers, among others.
Numerous other goldsmiths and jewelry 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. In addition to the renowned artists, there are also equally prominent sponsors who are associated with the exhibits. For example, the signet ring of TV legend Alfred Biolek is included.