Antique jewelry glossary

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Fish jewelry

See our: fish jewelry.

Articles of jewelry made in the form of a fish. The fish has been used as a jewelry motif from ancient times, e.g. as the form of a gold and green feldspar pendant made in Egypt, c. 1900 BC - 1800 BC, and worn as an amulet (called nekhaw) attached to the sidelock of children, and as a jade pendant made in China as an amulet, 13th to 10th centuries BC.

Some articles of early Christian devotional jewelry were made in the form of a fish or were inscribed or enamelled with the word ICHTHUS. In Sinú jewelry pendants were made in the form of a mythological flying fish, with horizontal fins and a vertical tail.

In modern times small pendants are made, especially in China, in the form of a fish with articulated parts and enamelled decoration.

From: An Illustrated Dictionary of Jewelry, autor: Harold Newman, publishers: Thames and Hudson