Asia & China

Royal earrings, Andhra Pradesh, 1st Century BC.

In Asia, the Indian subcontinent has the longest continuous legacy of jewellery making anywhere, with a history of over 5,000 years. ^[30] One of the first to start jewellery making were the peoples of the Indus Valley Civilization. Early jewellery making in China started around the same period, but it became widespread with the spread of Buddhism around 2,000 years ago.

[edit] China

The earliest culture to begin making jewellery in Asia was the Chinese around 5,000 years ago. Chinese jewellery designs were very religion-oriented and contained Buddhist symbols, a tradition which continues to this day.

Jade coiled serpent, Han Dynasty (202 BC-220 AD)

The Chinese used silver in their jewellery more often than gold, and decorated it with their favourite colour, blue. Blue kingfisher feathers were tied onto early Chinese jewellery and later, blue gems and glass were incorporated into designs. However, Chinese preferred jade over any other stone. They fashioned it using diamonds. The Chinese revered jade because of the human-like qualities they assigned to it, such as its hardness, durability and beauty.^[4] The first jade pieces were very simple, but as time progressed, more complex designs evolved. Jade rings from between the 4th and 7th centuries BCE show evidence of having been worked with a compound milling machine; hundreds of years before the first mention of such equipment in the west.^[31]

In China, jewellery was worn frequently by both sexes to show their nobility and wealth. However, in later years, it was used to accentuate beauty. Women wore highly detailed gold and silver head dresses and other items, while men wore decorative hat buttons which showed rank and gold or silver rings. Woman also wore strips of gold on their foreheads, much like women in the Indus Valley. The band was an early form of tiara and was often decorated with precious gems. The most common piece of jewellery worn by Chinese was the earring, which was worn by both men and women. Amulets were also common too, often with a Chinese symbol or dragon. In fact, dragons, Chinese symbols and also phoenixes were frequently depicted on jewellery designs.