Neckpiece thumbnail 1
Neckpiece thumbnail 2

Neckpiece

1985 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Beads in jewellery go far back in time, long before the craft of metalworking. The very early beads often had symbolic or amuletic value, and in some instances they were used as currency. The desire for beads as personal adornment is universal to all cultures and continues through to this day in a contemporary approach.

Robert Ebendorf, an enthusiast for incorporating ‘found objects’, chose to make his beads of papier mâché from Chinese newspaper and gold foil. Ebendorf’s dyslexia forms part of the inspiration, he is more fascinated by the visual patterns words can produce, rather than their meanings.

Robert Ebendorf’s early work followed Scandinavian aesthetics, as he returned again and again to Norway where he had his first training as a metalsmith. By the mid-sixties though he began to construct his jewellery from found objects, and is renowned for his collages.

Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Japanese rice paper, 24-carat gold leaf, lacquer, oxidised silver, copper and ebony
Brief description
Neckpiece designed and made by Robert Ebendorf in 1985
Dimensions
  • Depth: 5.0cm
  • Diameter: 28.5cm
Credit line
Given by Tom Weisz
Summary
Beads in jewellery go far back in time, long before the craft of metalworking. The very early beads often had symbolic or amuletic value, and in some instances they were used as currency. The desire for beads as personal adornment is universal to all cultures and continues through to this day in a contemporary approach.

Robert Ebendorf, an enthusiast for incorporating ‘found objects’, chose to make his beads of papier mâché from Chinese newspaper and gold foil. Ebendorf’s dyslexia forms part of the inspiration, he is more fascinated by the visual patterns words can produce, rather than their meanings.

Robert Ebendorf’s early work followed Scandinavian aesthetics, as he returned again and again to Norway where he had his first training as a metalsmith. By the mid-sixties though he began to construct his jewellery from found objects, and is renowned for his collages.
Bibliographic references
  • Peter Dormer/Ralph Turner, The New Jewelry, Trends + Traditions, London 1985 (Revised edition 1994)
  • Barbara Cartlidge, Twentieth Century Jewelry, New York 1985
  • Ettagale Blauer, Contemporary American Jewelry Design, New York 1991
  • Helen W. Drutt English / Peter Dormer, Jewelry of Our Time, London 1995
  • Susan Grant Lewin, American Art Jewelry of Today, London 1994
  • Fritz Falk / Cornelie Holzach, Schmuck der Moderne, Modern Jewellery 1960-1998, Stuttgart 1999
  • Ornament as Art, Avant-garde Jewelry from the Helen Williams Drutt Collection, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Stuttgart 2007
Collection
Accession number
M.5-1989

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Record createdJanuary 31, 2008
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