Gemstone art - Renaissance to the present day - Beau Livre

Long before gemstones came to signify political representation, they were magical objects or served religious cults. As artefacts rich with meaning they have always betokened religious and scientific cosmologies. This is one of the reasons that the gemstone or crystal was able to become an objet d'art in modern times—material for artistic production, as well as a symbol. The essays in this book focus on the gemstone as an art object from the Renaissance to the present day.
They cover a wide range, from gemstone cutting to changing symbolic meanings to the blueprint fora contemporary gemstone aesthetic. A large illustrated section also presents the great diversity of current artists who employ the gemstone as material for their art.