All that glitters at the MFA

An Egyptologist with a bachelor’s degree in biological sciences and a master’s in art therapy, Markowitz has wide-ranging credentials. Her passion, however, is jewelry, and she wants you to take it seriously.

I’m here to tell you that when you listen to her, read her essays, or see her displays (she was the co-curator of “Imperishable Beauty: Art Nouveau Jewelry’’ at the MFA in 2009, still one of my favorite MFA exhibitions), you do.

The MFA has more than 11,000 objects in this category, and they range over many millennia. Many are already on display in other parts of the museum.

There are, as you might expect, lots of diamonds and pearls in among those thousands: Look out, in particular, for the “Rothschild American Natural Freshwater Pearl Necklace.’’ Its pearls, found naturally in only one out of every 10,000 mussels, were carefully selected over 10 years by the gem expert and dealer Meyer D. Rothschild for a necklace he gave to his wife, Edith.

But there are also rare and unusual items, like kingfisher feathers, hummingbird heads, ivory, coral, rock crystal, tortoiseshell, and tiger claw - not to mention common and inexpensive materials such as glass, wood, conch shell, beads, and rubber.

Of course, to speak only of materials is to miss the whole point of jewelry, which is all about how those materials are transformed - with what ends in mind, with what feeling for beauty.

The gallery’s inaugural display, “Jewels, Gems, and Treasures: Ancient to Modern,’’ reminds us that these questions have received very different answers over the centuries.

As one moves around the room, one goes from Nubian ivory cuff bracelets made 4,000 years ago to a contemporary cuff bracelet made by the German designer Michael Zobel in 2003.

Zobel fuses gold and silver, then oxidizes them, creating a lovely, streaky effect. His technically ambitious design also includes a cross shape of carved quartz and gold, and a string of tiny diamonds (inserted by gem cutter Tom Munsteiner).