A World of Belts: Africa, Asia, Oceania, America

A passionate interest and much of a lifetime spent seeking out the world''s finest ethnic jewellery have produced an outstanding collection. The Ghysels have indulged their passion indiscriminately, according as much attention to the weirdest ornaments as to extraordinary pieces of ethnic jewellery. They were guided by a single criterion: the quality that gives rise to beauty, a strict standard indeed, but one made possible by their longstanding familiarity with ethnic objects.After rings, earrings, bracelets and necklaces, we are concerned with belts and cache-sexe, which are in contact with the most intimate parts of the body. Admittedly, belts seem less involved with questions of modesty and sexuality than cache-sexe are. But tying and untying a belt is not always a banal gesture! Belts and cache-sexe have been used at all times and in all latitudes. Africa and Oceania offer the fines