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Museums with Online Jewelry Collections

23 Institutions, 24/7 Access

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Although museums are closed during the pandemic, you can nonetheless view many of their holdings online. We’ve compiled direct links to the contemporary jewelry collections of almost two dozen of the top institutions in this domain.

Centraal Museum, Utrecht, the Netherlands
Find the museum’s jewelry collection here.

Dinie Besems, Men's Necklace, 2003
Dinie Besems, Men’s Necklace, 2003, silver, stones, rubies, 400 x 20 x 5 mm, photo courtesy Utrecht Central Museum

CODA Museum, Appeldoorn, the Netherlands
Enjoy the museum’s jewelry collection, as well as jewelry from other collections, here.

Felieke van der Leest, Dashed Beast, 2003
Felieke van der Leest, Dashed Beast, 2003, necklace, textile, aluminum, collection of CODA, photo courtesy of CODA

Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, New York City
See its jewelry collection here.

Bettina Speckner, Untitled, 2005
Bettina Speckner, Untitled, 2005, brooch, ferrotype (or tintype), silver, silver wire, rubies, markasite, The Susan Grant Lewin Collection, Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, photo courtesy Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Corning Museum of Glass, Corning, NY, USA
Go here for the jewelry collection. Try using the search term “jewelry,” then refine the results by clicking on the “contemporary” button.

Jiro Kamata, Bi-12 Color, 2015
Jiro Kamata, Bi-12 Color, 2015, necklace, cut dichroic mirror (glass with reflective dichroic coating), oxidized silver, open: 540 x 31 x 11 mm, photo courtesy of Corning Museum of Glass

Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, TX, USA
The institution’s jewelry collection is here.

Fritz Maierhofer, Untitled, 1974
Fritz Maierhofer, Untitled, 1974, bracelet, acrylic, gold, 83 x 64 x 83 mm, gift of Edward W. and Deedie Potter Rose, formerly Inge Asenbaum collection, Galerie am Graben in Vienna, photo copyright Fritz Maierhofer, courtesy of Dallas Museum of Art

Die Neue Sammlung, Munich, Germany
Enjoy a virtual tour of the Danner Rotunde here.

Photo courtesy Die Neue Sammlung
Photo courtesy Die Neue Sammlung

DIVA, Antwerp, Belgium
See the online collection here.

Christophe De Ranter, Untitled, 1998
Christophe De Ranter, Untitled, 1998, neckpiece, silver, diamonds, photo courtesy of DIVA

Fuller Craft Museum, Brockton, MA, USA
See the museum’s jewelry collection here. Try using the search term “jewelry.”

Susie Ganch, Brooch with Gray Molecules, circa 2008
Susie Ganch, Brooch with Gray Molecules, circa 2008, copper, enamel, braided wire, silver, 51 x 140 x 121 mm, Gift of Judith Weisman, photo courtesy of Fuller Craft Museum

LACMA (Los Angeles County Museum of Art), Los Angeles, CA, USA
Find LACMA’s jewelry collection here.

Deganit Stern Schocken, Necklace #36
Deganit Stern Schocken, Necklace #36, from the series Movement in Jewelry, Jewelry in Movement (1981–circa 1997), 1983, silver, gold, porcelain, chain length: 589 mm, pendant: 73 x 162 x 14 mm, Gift of Lois and Bob Boardman, photo courtesy of LACMA

The Met, New York City
The museum’s jewelry collection is here. You can refine by date/era, as well as object type, material, and geographic location.

Kiff Slemmons, Sticks and Stones and Words, 1992
Kiff Slemmons, Sticks and Stones and Words, 1992, breastplate, photo courtesy of The Met

Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Montreal, Canada
Find its jewelry collection here. Once there, at far right on the top of the page, select “En” for English. Then scroll all the way to the bottom, and type “jewellery” (note the British spelling!) in the search box. Under “Ages,” you can refine the time period you want to see.

Donald Friedlich, Brooch, from the Magnification series, 2013
Donald Friedlich, Brooch, from the Magnification series, 2013, press-molded glass, cold worked and engraved, gold, 73 x 75 x 20 mm, gift of Donald Friedlich, photo courtesy of Montreal Museum of Fine Arts

mudac (Musée de Design et d’Arts Appliqués Contemporains, Lausanne, Switzerland
Find an easy-to-navigate jewelry collection here. A slightly more complicated one is here. You can filter it by selecting “Types d’object” (type of object), then choosing “bague” (ring); “broche” (brooch); “collier” (necklace); “pendentif” (pendant); or bracelet.

Aurélie Dellasanta, Burning Life/Bomb 1, 2012
Aurélie Dellasanta, Burning Life/Bomb 1, 2012, brooch/pendant, steel wire covered in firework powder, photo courtesy of mudac – Musée de Design et d’Arts Appliqués Contemporains. This jewel is part of a set of 11 pieces ignited in a performance entitled Burning Life Show.

Museo del Gioiello Vicenza, Vicenza, Italy
Go here … but really the entire site has photos of pieces shown in the museum’s exhibitions over the years, so it’s a total jewelry extravaganza.

Kerry Howley, Attraction/Aversion no. 3, 2011
Kerry Howley, Attraction/Aversion no. 3, 2011, necklace, human hair, epoxy resin, 300 x 350 mm, collection of the artist, photo courtesy of Museo del Gioiello

Museum of Arts and Design, New York City
View its collection here. The work is organized by material.

K. Lee Manuel, Protectors of the Sacred Objects of Sirius, 1988
K. Lee Manuel, Protectors of the Sacred Objects of Sirius, 1988, goose feathers, lamb suede, paint, 559 x 533 x 51 mm, Gift of Paul Wittenborn, 1992, photo courtesy of Museum of Arts and Design

Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Houston, TX, USA
Go here to see the jewelry collection There are a number of ways to refine the search, including by year.

Tone Vigeland, Bracelet, 1985
Tone Vigeland, Bracelet, 1985, silver, 102 x 64 mm, Helen Williams Drutt Collection, museum purchase funded by the Susan Vaughan Foundation, photo courtesy of Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

Metal Museum, Memphis, TN, USA
Its jewelry collection is here.

Eleanor Moty, Crystal Fragment, 1992
Eleanor Moty, Crystal Fragment, 1992, brooch, sterling silver, 14-karat gold, tourmaline, quartz, photo courtesy of the Metal Museum. Moty was the Metal Museum’s 2012 Master Metalsmith.

Renwick Gallery, Washington, DC, USA
Find the Renwick’s jewelry collection here.

Richard Mawdsley, Feast Bracelet, 1974
Richard Mawdsley, Feast Bracelet, 1974, sterling silver, pearls, jade, 96 x 70 x 115 mm, Gift of the James Renwick Alliance in honor of Lloyd E. Herman, director emeritus, Renwick Gallery, photo courtesy of Smithsonian American Art Museum

Rian Designmuseum, Falkenberg, Sweden
The Rian has a jewelry lending library. See the pieces that are currently available to borrow here. (They will change over time as items are returned or go out on loan.)

Healim Shin, Rain Drops 3, 2017
Healim Shin, Rain Drops 3, 2017, brooch, silver, linen, Korean lacquer, 105 x 90 mm, photo courtesy of Rian Designmuseum

Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Enjoy its jewelry collection here. Use the search term “sieraden” or “jewellery,” then refine the results by type of object and/or period.

Beppe Kessler, Paper Bracelet, circa 1985
Beppe Kessler, Paper Bracelet, circa 1985, translucent paper, elastic, 40 x 300 mm, Gift of Marjan and Gerard Unger, Bussum, photo courtesy Rijksmuseum

RISD Museum, Providence, RI, USA
View the museum’s jewelry collection here.

Barbara Seidenath, Arctic Brooch, 1999
Barbara Seidenath, Arctic Brooch, 1999, sterling silver, enamel, photo courtesy of RISD Museum

Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Go here for its jewelry collection, Use search term “sieraad” (which is Dutch for jewelry), as well as “jewellery.” Also, the Françoise van den Bosch Collection is part of the Stedlijk, and can be viewed here.

Françoise van den Bosch, Untitled, 1968
Françoise van den Bosch, Untitled, 1968, earrings and bracelet, photo courtesy Stedelijk Museum, copyright Stichting Françoise van den Bosch/Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam

Tacoma Art Museum, Tacoma, WA, USA
Find its jewelry collection here.

Sarah Hood, Tree Ruff, 2008
Sarah Hood, Tree Ruff, 2008, sterling silver, plastic model railroad tree armatures, 24-karat gold, 305 x 305 x 76 mm, Museum purchase in honor of Sharon Campbell from her friends at Rotasa Foundation, photo courtesy Tacoma Art Museum

Victoria and Albert Museum, London
See the V&A’s jewelry collection here.

Barbara Paganin, brooch, 2011
Barbara Paganin, brooch, 2011, cast acrylic (methacrylate), oxidized silver, Given by the Friends of the V&A, museum number M.226:1-2011, photo courtesy of the V&A. This vibrant orange brooch was cast from broccoli romanesco The dramatic fractal patterns of the broccoli are cast in a dental acrylic that allows vivid color.

Author

  • Alejandra Salinas

    Alejandra Salinas is a metalsmith and emerging curator, born in the United States and raised in Mexico. Standing between two cultures, she combines her personal history with a contemporary perspective, translating her experiences into metal objects and jewelry. Salinas completed her BFA in metal at the State University of New York at New Paltz. Her work explores boundaries, both physical and conceptual, as she attempts to materialize a sense of resilience and hope.

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