Jewelry Art in Museum Space

The preservation and the development of traditional cultural heritage is the most important challenge facing the global museum community. In this context, ICOM Azerbaijan seeks ways to build the international cooperation with museum communities for safeguarding cultural heritage through museum space.

On January 25-27, 2017, the Azerbaijan Carpet Museum hosted a joint regional workshop The Jewelry Art in Museum Space: Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow organized by the ICOM Azerbaijan National Committee and the Azerbaijan Carpet Museum, with the support of ICOM Georgia and the Dagestan Museum of Fine Arts named after P.S. Gamzatova (the Russian Federation).

The workshop was visited by representatives from the Dagestan Museum of Fine Arts, the Georgian National Museum, the Georgian State Museum of Folk and Applied Art, the Batumi Archaeological Museum (Georgia), the Azerbaijan Carpet Museum, the Azerbaijan National Museum of Arts, the Azerbaijan National Museum of History, the Icherishahar Center of Traditional Arts (Azerbaijan), as well as by artisans of three countries.

In the framework of this event, the participants focused their presentations on the following topics:

• museum storage and security  of jewelry collections; 

• restoration and conservation; 

• curating of collections; 

• collaboration between artisans and museums;

• museum acquisition policy for both traditional and non-traditional jewelry works; 

• museum marketing complies with the present-day market demands 

These topics followed issues that were discussed during the recent international workshop The Art of Carpet Weaving which was held by ICOM Azerbaijan and ICOM Russia on November 16-18, 2016, at the Carpet Museum, in the framework of the long-term project Heritage of the CIS. Traditions for the Future.

The next workshop has continued to build the partnership of ICOM national committees in the Transcaucasian region, and for the first time provided an opportunity to pay close attention to opportunities of the preservation and development of the local jewelry art.

The seminar enabled artisans of three countries to come together, get to know the present-day art production in the region, exchange their experiences and skills to preserve original techniques of jewelry making, and learn ways to promote their products toward the market. The workshop also discussed issues of cooperation between museums and artisans, and the acquisition policy concerning modern works of arts to expand museums’ collections.

Besides the academic sessions, the participants visited jewelry storages of the Azerbaijan Carpet Museum, the Azerbaijan National Museum of History, and the Azerbaijan National Museum of Art, as well as the Icherisheher Center of Traditional Art and a production workshop of the AzerSouvenir Company.

During the event, participants of the workshop and visitors of the Carpet Museum could enjoy an exhibition of jewelry works from Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Dagestan. For the first time, the exhibition featured products of local well-known and emerging jewelers and jewelry brands. Visitors could see works made in the technique of filigree favored by Azerbaijani artisans, and the famous Georgian enamel and replicas of the antique jewelry, which were revealed during archaeological excavations in Georgia. Dagestan was presented with amazing works made in the technique of niello, filigree, and inlay.

The exhibition have demonstrated that the artisans, as successors of the ancient culture, not only continue long-standing traditions but also bring innovations and modern elements into the jewelry craft, with keeping the variety of jewelry items and approaches in interpreting the canons of traditional jewelry art of the Transcaucasian region. 

Yalchin Salimov,

Deputy director of the Azerbaijan Carpet Museum on Conservation