Last week I went to the Mayan exhibit at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science. It was an amazing exhibit. I learned a lot about this corn-loving culture from their architecture to their beliefs and values. (Did you know they considered crossed eyes and pointed teeth beautiful?) I even got to generate a Mayan name for myself. (Princess Shark, if you're curious.)
One of the highlights was seeing these gorgeous turquoise and gold earrings from 1250-1500 AD.
Beautiful, right? Normally I would have admired them and moved on. Instead, I thought: I've seen these before.
I'd recently received an email from Nunn Design with their beautiful gemstone chip jewelry: little turquoise chips set inside silver bezels. I thought they were gorgeous—and like nothing I'd seen before.
Of course, the two sets of earrings are not identical. The techniques, shapes, and materials are specific to their times. (I can't even begin to imagine how long that Mayan pair took to make!) But the experience did make me wonder: Is there anything new under the sun?