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Metropolitan Museum Of Art Store Jewelry

Royal And Political Gifts

Vintage Costume Jewelry From the Metropolitan Museum of Art MMA and Smithsonian Collection

Gift between rulers held great symbolic importance and jewelry was often an elegant and practical option for royal exchanges. While extremely valuable, jewelry was also relatively small and therefore more portable than other potential diplomatic presents. It was therefore used by rulers when exchanging gifts to maintain and strengthen international diplomatic relationships. When Byzantine emperor Constantine IX Monomachos presented gifts to the caliph al-Mustansir , he and Empress Zoe also presented five chests of gold jewelry to the ruler’s mother.

Emerald And Gold Jewelry Pushes Up Quality At The Met Shop

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The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York is a hot destination for jewelry enthusiasts and buyers alike right now.

Its current exhibition, Jewelry: The Body Transformed, presents about 230 objects from the Bronze Age to present day, showcasing jewelry as an ornamental form of wearable art that can have profound effects on its wearers.

And while the museums shop has long offered costume and demi-fine versions of its jewelry treasures or designs based on the past, it has now expanded its range to include higher-end, handcrafted and responsibly sourced pieces created for the Met by Donna Distefano, a New York designer and goldsmith.

A new 16-piece collection, for example, includes 18-karat gold drop earrings with emerald stones, inspired by the Body Transformed exhibitions richly ornamented Crown of the Andes and priced at $3,200.

With prices exceeding $8,000, the creations reflect the continuing development of the museums jewelry retail division, which recently announced new sourcing and production standards for all its offerings.

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The move to add higher-end jewelry could also have some impact on the Mets bottom line, especially as the museum has been working to reduce its financial deficit with such moves as charging admission to out-of-state visitors. The Mets budget for the 2018 fiscal year was $320 million $51 million was generated by retail.

Mr. Pedott declined to be specific, but said that sales of Ms. Distefanos pieces, which began last fall, had exceeded expectations.

The Met Store now carries about 450 jewelry items, including Ms. Distefanos work prices start at $35 for nylon cord bracelets with 18-karat gold-plated sterling silver charms. A 22-karat gold cross pendant studded with Colombian emeralds, another Distefano design inspired by the Crown of the Andes, is now the stores most expensive item at $8,100, though it is available only at the Fifth Avenue museum location. Other pieces, however, including an emerald tassel necklace , can be purchased online.

Ms. Distefanos collections, stamped Donna Distefano x The Met Store, began in November 2017 with three rings inspired by the Michelangelo: Divine Draftsman & Designer exhibition. Her first full 25-piece collection for the museum, including several beaded rosary necklaces in black onyx, arrived in May alongside the Costume Institutes Heavenly Bodies exhibition.

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A Journey Through Byzantine Jewelry

The Byzantine Empire began in 330 when Constantine the Great founded Constantinople , establishing it as the capital of the Byzantium, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire. It ended in 1453 when Ottoman Turks conquered the city. For most of Byzantium’s history, Christianity was the official state religion, but Greek and Roman beliefs influenced Byzantine culture, including with iconography in art and on jewelry. Byzantine jewelry, particularly the pieces worn by Byzantine royalty, played an important symbolic role in the empire.

The Museum Of Jewelry

Metropolitan Museum Of Art Gift Shop Souvenirs NYC New ...

While the aforementioned companies were wholesale entities, focused on business to business sales, Museum of Jewelry developed as our retail brand. From 1989 – 2001 we published and shipped millions upon millions of copies of our award winning catalog. Our jewelry graced movie-stars in titles such as The Mask, Indecent Proposal and The Fast and the Furious.

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Met Museum Replica Jewelry

But you have 30 days to decide just in case you don’t.

Complimentary FREE shipping and easy no questions asked returns.

About The Museum

At the Museum of Jewelry, we keep the hand-crafted arts alive. Every museum creation is an original work of art. Each piece of jewelry is handmade by master artisans from historical designs – each earring shaped, detailed and embellished using the same age-old techniques as have goldsmiths and lapidaries through the ages.Every piece of jewelry features natural, ethically sourced gemstones. As with all hand-made jewelry, our pieces and stones may have slight variations and natural inclusions.We hope you enjoy your journey through history here at the Museum of Jewelry.

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The Mets Jewelry Exhibit Is A Smorgasbord

The Body Transformed includes jewels from ancient times and modern masters

Shortly after the Metropolitan Museum of Art acquired the Crown of the Andes in 2015, I was contacted by a journalist from The New York Times who asked me where else people in the city could go to see great historic jewels. I told her jewels were in museums all over town and in many departments at the Met including the American Wing, the Greek, Roman and Egyptian galleries. In order to find them among the other artworks I explained, You just have to be a treasure hunter.

The museums new exhibition The Body Transformed, which will be on display until February 24, 2019, brings together 230 jewels, mainly from the Mets collections, in one presentation. In other words, the treasure hunting has been done for you by a team of six curators spearheaded by Melanie Holcomb from the Medieval Art department. The main premise of the show is to highlight different ways jewels have been worn on the body from head to toe and to explain many of the various things jewelry has symbolized over time and across cultures. The shows curators were motivated by two broad ranging questions: What is jewelry and why do we wear it?

The diadem of the gold and emerald Crown of the Andes was made in Colombia around 1660. The arches were added around 100 years later. Photo courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art

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The Best Museum Stores For Online Shopping

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Even if your legs are tired from a tour, your eyes need a break from all those paintings and your phones out of storage, you probably just have to see the gift shop before leaving a museum.

While museum gift shops have the usual T-shirts and mugs with logos, they also are a gold mine for one-of-a-kind gifts that you cant find anywhere else.

Right now, you might be missing going to museums as most of them across the country and around the world have closed due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. UNESCO estimates that 90% of museums globally have shut their doors.

Since many museums rely on donations and entrance fees, places like the Tenement Museum in New York City have struggled to stay afloat in recent months.

Its especially important to support museums now in whatever way you can whether that includes taking an online tour like the Metropolitan Museum of Art offers, getting an annual membership to somewhere like the Museum of Modern Art, or, of course, spending money with a museums gift store.

If you didnt know, there are a lot of museums that have online gift stores now that you can shop at while staying on your couch and get some good quarantine birthday gift ideas for adults, while youre at it.

Check out these museum gift shops that you can shop online:

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The Cottage Shop At Bayou Bend

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Bayou Bends cottage is located near the beautiful Clio garden, right next to the house.

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The Cottage Shop at Bayou Bend offers a memorable retail experience in a boutique atmosphere. Shop unique products, in all price ranges, that reflect the quality, craftsmanship, and beauty of Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens. Skilled artisans have crafted one-of-a-kind and limited-edition items with classic design for contemporary lifestyles.

The Cottage Shop at Bayou Bend is always free to visit during regular touring hours!

HoursTuesdaySaturday | 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.Sunday | 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.Closed Monday, except selected holidaysClosed Thanksgiving Day & Christmas DayOpen evenings for guests during Christmas Village

Location6003 Memorial Drive, Houston, Texas 77007The Cottage Shop at Bayou Bend is located in the cottage next to the historic Bayou Bend mansion.

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