Greek Jewellery
Jewellery-making Techniques
from Antiquity to Recent Times
| In mainland Greece however, which was under the Ottoman yoke, precious metals were only produced for use by the state and the folk jewellery was made of humbler metals. The community of Mademochoria that exploited the silver mines of the region, paying an annual tax in pure silver to the Sublime Porte, constituted an exception. The raw materials were usually obtained through illicit mining or the recycling of coins, older jewellery and other precious objects. These were melted down and then a complex process was followed in which the various ingredients, that is the gold, silver, copper etc., were separated out (lagarisma). |
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| Fig. 43 These earrings are a characteristic example of Aegean jewellery-making. The ship is fashioned from sheet gold, while the decoration is executed in wire, enamel and pearls. The bow from which the ship hangs is made of wire and enamel (Athens, Benaki Museum). |
| Neohellenic jewellery was usually made from an alloy of silver which only rarely had a high silver content (lagara), and was usually low-grade (ayari). Another metal used in jewellery-making was copper. Very often the folk jewellery was gilded. The rich decoration of folk jewellery was executed in all the familiar techniques. Repousse decoration occurs mainly on belt buckles (fig. 45). Various linking plaques with relief decoration and small buckles were made by casting in metal moulds (figs 46,47). |
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| Fig. 44 Gold earrings from Lefkada lavishly embellished with filigree and pearls (Athens, Benaki Museum). |
| Filigree decoration and granulation were used on pectoral ornaments, necklaces, brooches, headdress ornaments etc. (fig. 48). Opus interrasile was also widespread and pieces worked in this technique were normally placed on top of a metal sheet or coloured cloth (fig. 49). |
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| Fig. 45 Gold necklace from Patmos, made from wire, enamel and precious stones (Athens, Benaki Museum). |
| In addition to its rich metallic decoration, Greek folk jewellery also displays polychromy. Necklaces, buckles and earrings were set with semiprecious stones and coral (fig. 50), while artificial gems were often used (fig. 51). Enamel is another kind of colourful decoration frequently encountered (fig. 52). Last, niello (savati) was generally used for buckles, gunpowder cases and phylacteries (chaimalia) (figs 53,54). |
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| Fig. 46 Detail of a necklace formed from cast plaques (Museum of Greek Folk Art). |