Our main destination today was the World Jewellery Museum, where we met with one of the owners, Elaine Kim.
The museum is over three levels, and is about the size of a house. (As ever in Seoul, an economic use of space is necessitated.) The displays were set out in levels, with the first floor being devoted to traditional jewellery forms from all over the world. It was dominated on the day of our visit by many pieces from different parts of the African continent, which included much heavy and heavily ornamented silver works, as well as traditional beadwork.
The second floor had a focus on more Western pieces, with a room devoted to images of jewellery in painting from the Renaissance period on, and throughout the floor were many examples of very highly skilled works in precious stones and metals. A feature in the middle of the biggest room was an Italian beaded wedding dress on display, and nearby was a small selection of jewelled handbags.
Finally the third floor was devoted to rings, in a very unique display, which allowed them to be seen on all sides. The rings were set into large panels, made from sandwiched layers of perspex (with individual voids carved to match the approximate size of each ring) that were skinned with another sheet of perspex on each side. A whole panel, filled with rings, would have been about 40mm thick, (and quite weighty) and was hung from the ceiling rafters.
Each collection of works had accompanying curatorial text in English and Korean, and many of the works had approximate dates of their manufacture and/or collection.
The museum is a privately owned and run gallery, located in a busy pedestrian cultural and shopping district in Seoul. Elaine and her mother run the space which shows their private jewellery collection, and the gallery operates by charging a small entry fee. Elaine told me, at the end of my visit, that at any time they have approximately 10% of their collection on show, and that they rotate the collection about five times a year.
