The Secret Language of Jewellery in Art

A lecture celebrating the publication of Stella Grace Lyons’ new book.

What secrets lie behind a dead weasel with a jewel-encrusted mask? Why are men painted wearing gem-studded toothpicks?
Why are slaves adorned with pearls?

Jewellery in art is often overlooked – dismissed as decorative or incidental. Yet it shaped how people were seen and judged: proclaiming power and lineage, advertising fertility, signalling desire, enforcing virtue and betraying private anxieties.

Drawing on the discoveries from her new book, The Secret Language of Jewellery in Art, Stella Grace Lyons exposes a forgotten visual language. From queens and courtesans to merchants, lovers and enslaved children, this talk reveals how the full gamut of human desires, aspirations and fears glitter in the smallest of details.

Copies of The Secret Language of Jewellery in Art will be available to purchase, and Stella will be delighted to sign them after the lecture.