Cristina Gutbrod28.01.2025In 1898, the architect Gustav Gull (1858-1942) created designs for two cups as part of a collaboration with the goldsmith’s workshop run by Johann Karl Bossard (1846-1914) in Lucerne. That same year, the newly built Swiss National Museum in Zurich, also designed by Gull, opened its doors to the public. Gull and Bossard’s impressive networks of contacts came together in the planning and design of the museum.
Beatriz Chadour-Sampson24.12.2024For two generations in the late 19th century, the Lucerne goldsmiths Bossard created jewellery to meet the demands of their customers. Pieces in the styles from historicism to art deco were sold between 1868 and 1934.
Jasmin Mollet23.05.2024A look at the badges people wore in the Middle Ages reveals many designs that one would not normally associate with the period: fantastic creatures made out of genitalia call into question how prudish people really were in medieval times.
Beatriz Chadour-Sampson28.03.2023Skeletons and skulls have become cult symbols through artists and rock bands. However, the representation of life and death have a much older tradition.
Beatriz Chadour-Sampson23.02.2023Jewellery does not have to be static. The jewellery artist Friedrich Becker was also of this opinion and created fascinating pieces of jewellery with moving parts. Some of them found their way into the collection of the Swiss National Museum.
Beatriz Chadour-Sampson26.01.2023Rings can be more than simply adornment, expression of personal sentiment or symbols of status, they can also conceal or openly show allegiance to a political cause. In some cases, such affiliations could have dangerous consequences, even death.
Beatriz Chadour-Sampson26.12.2022European artists and jewellers shared a common visual language of love and romance, with some symbolism dating as far back as ancient Greece and Rome. Among many design motifs, musical themes, pastoral settings, flowers and animals are all traditionally found on jewellery with romantic associations.
Beatriz Chadour-Sampson01.12.2022It's amazing what a finger ring can tell you. For example, the life story of Josiah Wedgwood, who elevated pottery to an art form in the 18th century and did not shy away from industrialisation.
