Ornament is the leading magazine celebrating wearable art. Explore jewelry, fashion, beads; contemporary, ancient and ethnographic.
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29 ORNAMENT 35.5.2012 Markowitz YVONNE MARKOWITZ to another like a narration of the entire history of jewelry, straight from her memory. Hers is an encyclopedic memory in jewelry scholarship for an encyclopedic museum. It all started with the Nubian and Ancient Egyptian, then expanded throughout all the departments in the museum. Rita Freed, the John F. Cogan, Jr. and Mary L. Cornille Chair of Art of the Ancient World, has worked with Markowitz since 1989. "We always knew she had an interest in jewelry," says Freed. "It was a scientific interest. She had a powerful microscope at home, and she was interested in technique. She was very good at telling if something was a hybrid, or not quite right for whatever reason. She has a good eye. It's as much looking at the style as the technique. Is the technique right for the time period? Are the materials right? Ultimately she was the only one in the museum that was really interested in jewelry, so she was given the task of going to the different departments to analyze their jewelry collections." As a result, some objects were moved from one department to another, sometimes treasures were discovered, and other pieces found not to be what the museum had earlier determined. Markowitz works closely with the conservators, who analyze materials, age, condition, likely authenticity, and storage needs of each object. "Before anything is acquired, our lab looks at it," says Markowitz. "Particularly for all the historic pieces, you have to take forgeries into consideration and restorations. How much do you