Ancient Treasures, Modern Art

Foreword

Annabel Davidson - Editor, Vanity Fair on Jewellery

Like a lot of jewellery, Kapistree’s Mesopotamian black stone bird pendant
suspended from a simple twist of gold wire cries out to be touched. Given that it’s
3,500 years old, you’d think you couldn’t possibly caress it, but at Kapistree, ancient
treasures are given new life in modern, wearable settings.

Stylised and smooth, the little bird in the pendant named Kullatu, looks to have been
caressed by fingers – anxious or otherwise – for millennia. And it may well have
been. Dating from 2500-1500 BC, this smooth black pebble, carved into a plump little
bird, could symbolise myriad things; the freedom of flight, the joy of birdsong, the
intelligence of the avian species. Or perhaps, in ancient West Asia, it meant
something else entirely.

While plenty of ancient systems of belief have been preserved through literature and
art, sometimes the meaning of these little amulets can only be wondered at.
Dr Natalie Williams, Kapistree’s founder and creative director, and Jacob Sedgwick,
founder and director, don’t dictate to us the meaning of these ancient treasures.
Rather, they imbue them with their own knowledge and musings, translating their
feelings about them into words, and wondering aloud what they might have meant to
the original owner thousands of years ago.

Take the Mesopotamian stone elephant pendant, circa 4000-3000 BC, which Natalie has
framed in tiny gold tusks and suspended from a hand-woven, grass green silk
kumihimo cord. Jacob explains how what could appear primitive is actually a study in
light and shade, and points out the tiny detail of tufts of grass between the elephant’s
legs. What did this bronze-age carving mean to an ancient civilisation 5,000
years ago? What does it mean to us today? What might it mean to the person who
wears it now?

From a gleaming copper 13th Century heraldic pendant to a translucent rock crystal
seal stone, circa 200-550 AD, from Ancient Persia, Kapistree’s collection of epochs-
old talismans rendered wearable today are a masterclass in both respecting and
resetting ancient treasures for a new audience – a continuation of human experience
that started as many as 5,000 years ago.

 @annabel_davidson_yeah