Bijoux des toits du monde

De la Chine au Caucase

The snowy peaks of the Caucasus, the jagged contours of the heavenly mountains of the Chinese Empire, the welcoming Swat Valley, and the lush valley of Kathmandu: these formed the backdrop for some of the world’s greatest civilisations—Persia ruled by Darius, Greece under Alexander, Buddha’s India, not to mention the nomads in the steppes of “hazy” Central Asia, as elusive as it is enchanting. Pilgrims, travellers, and merchants, as well as diplomats, archaeologists, and historians have also traipsed through these wild, rugged lands. All have fallen under the spell of the virginal beauty of these “rooftops of the world,” scourged by storms and vicious winds, microcosms of unequalled archaism and purity. As fragile witness of the astonishing human adventure that was the Silk Road, jeweller y constitutes the memor y of the peoples and cultures of these regions, their umbilical cord. Jade necklaces and bracelets, silver torques and belts, earrings, broaches and amulets testify to the extraordinary virtuosity of anonymous craftsmen who immortalised their superstitions, beliefs, and dreams on these small objects.

Lavishly illustrated, combining archaeology and ethnology, this book places these timeless jew- els in their proper geographical and spiritual context. It was published as an accompaniment to the exhibition held at Baur Collections, Museum of Far Eastern Art, Geneva, held in fall 2012.

Bérénice Geoffroy-Schneiter is a Hellenist and trained as an art historian (postgraduate diploma from École du Louvre and MA in Ancient Greek from the Sorbonne). She spent her childhood in Afghanistan and Pakistan and is also a recognized expert in France in tribal arts and personal adornment, publishing several books on the subject (Flammarion, Skira,Assouline, Hazan, Le Seuil). Geoffroy-Schneiter is also a journalist and art critic, writing for a variety of art magazines. Lastly, she organized the Voyage dans ma tête, la collection de coiffes ethniques d’Antoine de Galbert exhibition, held in the Maison Rouge in Paris in 2010.