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Two Jewelry Exhibitions With an American SlantTwo Manhattan museums on the same block are currently presenting lavish exhibitions of historical American jewelry. The American Folk Art Museum is host to "Masterpieces of American Jewelry," a selection of about 200 pieces, most of them commercially produced, dating from the late 18th century to the late 20th. And the Museum of Arts and Design is featuring a show dedicated to the New York jewelry designer and producer Seaman Schepps.
The show at the Folk Art Museum was produced for it by a nonprofit organization, the National Jewelry Institute, which was founded two years ago to promote the study and exhibition of fine jewelry. The pieces were selected from private and corporate collections by the exhibition's curator, Ralph Esmerian, who is vice chairman of the National Jewelry Institute and a fourth-generation dealer in precious stones. He is also chairman and a former president of the American Folk Art Museum.
For pure visual gratification, Mr. Esmerian's exhibition is especially rewarding. If you are hoping for stimulating ideas about jewelry and its history you will be disappointed, but it is easy to forgive the low intellectual wattage because so many of the pieces, displayed in fancy, fiber-optically lighted cases, stand out on their own as wonderful objects.
Among the more memorable items are a gold bracelet with dangling letters spelling "G R Chicks" &
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