Greek Jewellery
Jewellery-making Techniques
from Antiquity to Recent Times
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Jewellery-making in Byzantium Byzantine art is characterized by the same love of luxury and precious materials as that of ancient times. Gold, silver, precious stones and enamel were a11 used for making opulent objects and typical of the metalworking of this era is the jewellery. |
| Fig. 31 Gold ornament with repousse representation at the centre, surrounded by decorative motifs formed from gold wire and filled with coloured enamel (cloisonne) (Paris, Cabinet des Medailles). |
| The Byzantine emperors and nobles were famed for the precious jewellery they possessed or presented as gifts. Centres of jewellery production were not only the capitál Constantinople but also provinces such as Syria, which had a long tradition in this art. The jewellery-making techniques, such us engraving and embossing, filigree, granulation, enamelling were virtually the same as those used in antiquity (figs 31,32,33). However the Byzantine Empire's direct contact with the East led to the adoption of new methods of decoration. |
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| Fig. 32 Gold earrings lavishly decorated in filigree and granulation techniques. Early Byzantine period (Athens, Canellopoulos Museum). |
| One of the distinctive traits of Byzantine jewellery is the lavish use of
precious stones (Figs 34,35,36). Pearls from the Persian Gulf, emeralds from Egypt and India, sapphires from Ceylon were brought to the Empire to embellish valuable objects. |
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| Fig. 33 Gold pericarp with repousse decoration, 11th century. (Athens, Canellopoulos Museum). |
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Another method of decoration which is of oriental origin and was frequently used by Byzantine jewellers is niello. Though niello was known in the Mycenaean period it was subsequently forgotten, to reappear on Roman objects. the decorative effect is based on the contrast created between the colour of the ground metal and the dark motifs. It can be applied to gold, silver and bronze. |
| Fig. 34 Necklace of gold wire, pearls, amethyst and green glass beads (Field Museum of National History). |