Sumptuously photographed ethnic pieces from the collections of the Barbier-Muller Museum in Geneva shine brightly as the stars in this magnificent cavalcade of representative and decorative jewelry from various civilizations and kingdoms of Africa, Asia, and the Pacific. Serving as an introduction to the photographic section, the image-provoking text esoteric at times because of its literary quotations focuses on various types of adornment for skin, hair, clothing, and weaponry created from gold, silver, precious and semiprecious gems, minerals, shells, teeth, and hair. Brief captions are sprinkled throughout the photographs, with fuller descriptions located in the catalog section at the end. Though primarily a coffee-table book, this may be useful for designers, artisans, and anyone interested in anthropology, ethnology, primitive art, or exotic jewelry. Recommended for both lay readers and specialists.

About the Contributor(s)

Michel Butor first won critical acclaim in the 1950s for his "existentialist" novels Passing Time and Change of Heart (also titled Second Thoughts), both of them gorgeous word paintings in the tradition of Proust and Joyce. Along with the works of Jean-Paul Sartre, Nathalie Sarraute, and Alain Robbe-Grillet, they defined what came to be known as the "new novel." Poet, philosopher, and critic as well as novelist, Butor has long been a member of the Faculty of Letters at the University of Geneva.

Pierre-Alain Ferrazzini, an independent artist known for his advertising photographs, has made the images reproduced in most of the catalogues published by the Barbier-Muller Museum. In addition, he has illustrated several catalogues for the Collections Baur in Geneva, the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, and the Fondation Gianadda in Martigny.