Silver Jewellery - A Brief History

AntiquityPre-MycenaeanSilver was used in ancientAlexandria, remained the common method of
Italy and Greece for personal ornaments,decoration for silver articles until the end of the
vessels,jewellery,arrows, weapons and coinage. ItRoman Empire.A lot of Roman silverware was
was inlaid and plated. It was also mixed with Goldburied during the violent last centuries of the
to produce white gold as well as being mixed withancient world. The largest, the Boscoreale
baser metals.Examples of ancient jewelry weretreasure (mostly in the Louvre), was accidentally
found in Queen Pu-abi's tomb at Ur insaved by
Sumeria(now called Tall al-Muqayyar), dating fromthe same volcanic eruption that destroyed
3000 BC. In the crypt the queen's body wasHerculaneum and killed Pliny in AD 79. A slightly
covered with jewellery made from gold, silver,smaller hoard found at Hildesheim (now in Berlin)
lapis lazuli, carnelian,agate and chalcedonyalso belongs to the early empire. The acquisition
beads.Aegean lands were rich in precious metals.and appreciation of silver plate was a sort of cult
The considerable deposits of treasure found in thein Rome. Technical names for various kinds of
earliest prehistoric strata on the site of Troy arereliefs
not likely to be later than 2000 BC. The largest ofwere in common use (emblemata, sigilla, crustae.)
them, called Priam's Treasure, was a large silverWeights were recorded and compared and
cup containing gold ornaments consisting offrequently exaggerated. Large quantities of bullion
elaborate diadems or pectorals, six bracelets, 60came to Rome from their battle victories in
earrings or hair rings, and nearly 9,000 beads.Greece and Asia during the 2nd century BC.Early
Silver was widely used in the Greek islandsChristian and ByzantineThe earliest Christian
however only a few simple vessels, rings, pins,silverwork closely resembles the pagan work of
and headbands survive. Mycenaean andthe period and uses of the techniques of
Minoan.Three silver dagger blades were found in aembossing and chasing. The design is
communal tomb at Kumasa.Silver seals andsometimesclassical, decorated with pagan
ornaments of the same age were also found inscenes.Most of the silver has been found in Syria,
these regions. A silver cup found in Gournia datesEgypt, Cyprus, Asia Minor,and Russia. It is mostly
to circa 2000. Some vases and jugsfromchalices, censers, candlesticks, and bowls and
Mycenae are also made of silver. Some of thedishes. The techniques of chasing and embossing
Mycenaean blades are bronze inlaid withgold, ,were often employed, but abstract patterns and
silver, niello and electrum.Bronze to the IronChristian symbols inlaid in niello were also used.
AgeEngraved and embossed silver bowls madeThe 6th and 7th centuries saw the appearance of
by Phoenicians have been found in Greece. Mostimperial control stamps,- early forerunners of
of them have elaborate pictorial designs ofhallmarks.Middle AgesCarolingian and OttonianIn the
Egyptian or Assyrian character and thereforelast quarter of the 8th century the design
probably foreign to Greece.However some simplerfocused on
types, decorated with rows of animals andthe human figure and the use of niello
flowers,can hardly be distinguished from the first(chip-carving technique.)Examples are the Tassilo
Hellenic products. A silver bowl from around theChalice (umlnster Abbey, Austria) and the Lindau
5th century BC can be found inthe MetropolitanGospels book cover (Pierpont Morgan Library,
Museum of Art showing a fine flower style.SilverNew York City).Most influential silver design was
vases and toilet articles have been found besidecommissioned by Royalty or the church.Liturgical
the more common bronze in Etruscan tombs. Forplate and reliquaries, altar crosses, and the like
example, a chased powder box of the 4thunderwent no fundamental change; Ottonian work
century BC in the Metropolitan Museum ofof the later 10th and 11th centuries can be
Art.RomanDuring the 4th century BC, the trenddistinguished from that of the 9th only in the
of ornamenting silver vessels with relief wasdevelopment of style. For example, the larger,
revived. This type of work, elaborated in themore massive figures, with their strict pattern of
Hellenistic Age and particularly at Antioch andfolds, on the golden altar (c.