Medieval jewelry

Last updated
Germanic fibulae, early 5th century Paar Prunkfibeln.jpg
Germanic fibulae, early 5th century
The Dunstable Swan Jewel, a livery badge in gold and ronde bosse enamel, about 1400. British Museum -Dunstable Swan Jewel -side cropped close.jpg
The Dunstable Swan Jewel, a livery badge in gold and ronde bosse enamel, about 1400.
Gold belt end and buckle, c. 600, Avar version of Byzantine style Buckle and Tab, 600s AD, Avaric, gold - Cleveland Museum of Art - DSC08478.JPG
Gold belt end and buckle, c. 600, Avar version of Byzantine style

The Middle Ages was a period that spanned approximately 1000 years and is normally restricted to Europe and the Byzantine Empire. The material remains we have from that time, including jewelry, can vary greatly depending on the place and time of their creation, especially as Christianity discouraged the burial of jewellery as grave goods, except for royalty and important clerics, who were often buried in their best clothes and wearing jewels. The main material used for jewellery design in antiquity and leading into the Middle Ages was gold. [1] Many different techniques were used to create working surfaces and add decoration to those surfaces to produce the jewellery, including soldering, plating and gilding, repoussé, chasing, inlay, enamelling, filigree and granulation, stamping, striking and casting. Major stylistic phases include barbarian, Byzantine, Carolingian and Ottonian, Viking, and the Late Middle Ages, when Western European styles became relatively similar.

Contents

Most styles and techniques used in jewellery for personal adornment, the main subject of this article, were also used in pieces of decorated metalwork, which was the most prestigious form of art through most of this period; these were often much larger. Most surviving examples are religious objects such as reliquaries, church plate such as chalices and other pieces, crosses like the Cross of Lothair and treasure bindings for books. However this is largely an accident of survival, as the church has proved much better at preserving its treasures than secular or civic elites, and at the time there may well have been as many secular objects made in the same styles. For example, the Royal Gold Cup, a secular cup though decorated with religious imagery, is one of a handful of survivals of the huge collections of metalwork joyaux ("jewels") owned by the Valois dynasty who ruled France in the late Middle Ages. [2]

In addition to basic forms of personal jewellery such as rings, necklaces, bracelets, and brooches that remain in use today, medieval jewellery often includes a range of other forms less often found in modern jewellery, such as fittings and fasteners for clothes including, buckles, "points" for the end of laces, and buttons by the end of the period, as well as hat badges, decorations for belts, weapons, purses and other accessories, and decorated pins, mostly for holding hairstyles and head-dresses in place. Neck chains carried a variety of pendants, from crosses (the most common) to lockets and elaborate pieces with gems. Thin "fillets" or strips of flexible gold sheet, often decorated, were probably mostly sewn into hair or head-dresses. Arm-rings ("armillae") and sometimes ankle-rings were also sometimes worn, and sometimes (for the very rich) many small of pieces of jewellery were sewn into the cloth of garments forming patterns. Jewellery was a very important marker of social status, and most prosperous women probably wore some conspicuous pieces all the time, or at least whenever outside the home. Men were often at least equally highly adorned, and high-status children of both sexes often wore jewellery as formal wear.

Raw materials

In early medieval jewelled objects, gems were often set profusely spaced across surfaces, here a cross Ardennenkreuz (croce processionale), francia del nord o germania occ.le, 825-850 ca 02.JPG
In early medieval jewelled objects, gems were often set profusely spaced across surfaces, here a cross

Precious metals

Gold has held the fascination of humans for thousands of years. [1] By the end of the fourth millennium BCE it was already being worked and refined with great technical skill. [1] Many ancient goldsmiths used alloyed gold found in nature, as it does not often occur naturally. [3] Alloyed gold can be purified through a process called refining, and due to the Hittite derivation of the Greek word, it is believed that the ancient peoples of Asia Minor were the first to refine gold. [4] Ignoring its beauty and the possible association with the sun's perceived mystical powers, the main advantage of using gold to create jewelry was its malleability. [1]

The Romans were voracious producers and consumers of gold, and all but exhausted European deposits. Some gold mined in West Africa, more at the end of the period, probably reached Europe through the Islamic world, but the main source was undoubtedly ancient Roman gold that remained above ground in coin or object form, or was recovered from buried hoards. Gold ran short at several periods, and European gold coinage was unusual throughout the period, in contrast to the Byzantine and Islamic worlds. In contrast silver was mined in Europe throughout the Middle Ages, with very large deposits discovered at Kutná Hora in Bohemia in 1298 that lasted until the end of the period. [5]

Stones

Nearly all gemstones had to be imported from outside Europe, though Insular jewellery used native stones. Amber, jet, freshwater pearls and coral could be found within Europe. The modern facet-cut style of gemcutting was only developed at the end of the period, and before that stones were all cut and polished in variations of what is now called a cabouchon cut, with rounded contours. Diamonds are relatively unexciting, and very difficult to create, in cabouchon style, and other stones such as ruby and emerald were the most highly prized, but a wide range of stones were used, with modern distinctions between precious and semi-precious stones largely ignored, and clear rock crystal, sometimes engraved, popular. Large stones were greatly valued, and many rulers and great nobles amassed collections, which were often frequently reset. [6] Lapidaries or books listing different gems, were an extremely popular type of work in the Middle Ages, and listed the many medical and quasi-magical powers attributed to gems, as well as their religious symbolism and sometimes their astrological significance. Sapphires, for example, were attributed with certain magical properties that were used to detect fraud, cure snakebites, and expel witchcraft. [7]

Ancient engraved gems were often reused among stones, which in early medieval jewelled objects were often set profusely, spaced out across surfaces, mixed with ornaments in gold. Medieval gem engraving only recaptured the full skills of classical gem engravers at the end of the period, but simpler inscriptions and motifs were sometimes added earlier. Pearls gathered in the wild from the Holarctic freshwater pearl mussel were much used, with Scotland a major source; this species is now endangered in most areas. [8]

Adhesives

Various adhesives were used to stick precious metal foils to wood or any other support that functioned as a basis for the work of art. In his treatise, at book III, chapter LIX, entitled De confectione quæ dicitur tenax, Theophylus speaks about a preparation called confectio tenax. The material cited by Theophylus has a double role: it should act as an adhesive and as a filling. Current analytical evidence has shown that it has also a double composite chemical nature: the inorganic part forms the inert mass on which to work metals and can be made of sand, clay, powdered bricks and tiles, or the so-called cocciopesto (powdered bricks mixed with mortar), while the organic part works as an adhesive between metal and wood and is made of wax and/or pitch. [9]

Styles

Northern Europe in the Migration Period

The famous shoulder-clasps from Sutton Hoo, one of the finest examples of gold and garnet cloisonne inlay work (not enamel) Sutton.Hoo.ShoulderClasp2.RobRoy.jpg
The famous shoulder-clasps from Sutton Hoo, one of the finest examples of gold and garnet cloisonné inlay work (not enamel)

Barbarian jewellery of the Migration Period is one of the most common forms of surviving art from their cultures, and the personal adornment of the elite was clearly considered of great importance, for men as well of women. Large jewelled fibula brooches, worn singly (with a cloak) or in pairs (for many types of women's dress) on the chest were made in a number of forms based on Roman styles, as the barbarian peoples including the Visigoths, Ostrogoths, Franks, Anglo-Saxons and Lombards took over the territories of the Western Roman Empire. These and other jewels very often used gold and garnet cloisonné, where patterns were made by thin chips of garnet (and other stones) laid into small gold cells. Enamel was sometimes used in the same style, often as a cheaper substitute for the stones. In the Insular art of the British Isles the preferred shape was the penannular brooch, and exceptionally large and elaborate examples like the Tara Brooch and Hunterston Brooch were worn by both secular elites and the clergy (at least on liturgical vestments). Relatively few other types of jewellery have survived from this place and period. The wearing of cheaper forms of jewellery appears to have reached quite far down the social scale; gold was relatively cheap at the period.

Though mostly based on Roman models, styles varied with the different tribes or people, and the jewellery buried in graves can be used to trace the movement of ethnic groups, having presumably served with other aspects of costume as a cultural identifier for the living. [10]

The Anglo-Saxons who founded the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England preferred round disk brooches to either fibulae or penannular forms, also using gold and garnet cloisonné along with other styles. The finest and most famous collection of barbarian jewelry is the set for the adornment of (probably) an Anglo-Saxon king of about 620 recovered at the Sutton Hoo burial site in England in the mid-20th century. [11]

Byzantine, Carolingian and Ottonian

Byzantine pair of earrings, c. 600 AD Byzantine - Pair of Earrings - Walters 57560, 57561.jpg
Byzantine pair of earrings, c. 600 AD
Byzantine necklace and pair of earrings found at Asyut, Egypt c. 600 AD (British Museum) Byzantine Jewellery (1).JPG
Byzantine necklace and pair of earrings found at Asyut, Egypt c. 600 AD (British Museum)

The jewellery of the Byzantine Empire often features religious images or motifs such as the cross, even in pieces that were for secular use. Elaborate Roman styles were continued, but with growing use of cloisonné enamel. The main commissions for gold work and jewelry came from the Court or the Church. [13] As such, much of the jewelry was very religious, involving ornate crosses and depictions of the afterlife or of saints' lives. [14] The Byzantines excelled in inlaying and their work was enormously opulent, involving precious stones, glass and gold. [15] Not much of Byzantine jewelry remains, as this period marked the end of burying a person's jewelry with them, so much of the truly extravagant jewelry – depicted in mosaics and paintings – has disappeared. [16] Carolingian jewelry is similar to Byzantine in that the modern world has lost almost all of it, except that which was created for religious purposes. [17] The Carolingians were similar to the barbarians in their love of colour, but the techniques they used – especially enamelling – are much more reminiscent of the Byzantines. [17] The most outstanding piece of jewelry that still remains from this period is the crown of Charlemagne, with precious stones, filigree, enamel and gold. [18] The Ottonian style is, again, very similar to the Byzantines and the Carolingians. Religion plays a main part in the jewelry that remains. [19] The Ottonian style characterizes a cross between German and Byzantine, superior in both technicality and delicacy. [19]

Viking

Viking-period penannular brooches in silver from the Penrith Hoard, three of the "thistle" type. Britishmuseumpenrithhoardbrooches.jpg
Viking-period penannular brooches in silver from the Penrith Hoard, three of the "thistle" type.

Viking jewelry began rather plainly – with unadorned bands and rings – but quickly developed into intricate and masterful artistry, with a strong preference for silver, unusual in the Middle Ages. The two methods most used by the Vikings were filigree and repoussé. [20] The main themes in Viking jewelry are patterns of nature and animals, increasing in abstraction as the time period progressed. [21] Later Viking jewelry also starts to exhibit simplistic geometric patterns. [22] The most intricate Viking work recovered is a set of two bands from the 6th century in Alleberg, Sweden. [21] Barbarian jewelry was very similar to that of the Vikings, having many of the same themes. Geometric and abstract patterns were present in much of barbarian art. [23] Like other barbarian women Viking women needed jewellery to keep their clothes on, and were probably rarely seen without it.

Late Middle Ages

In the 13th century, jewelry became the province of aristocratic and noble houses, with sumptuary laws prohibiting commoners from wearing jewelry with precious stones, pearls and excess amounts of gold or silver. [24] Inventories of royal treasuries provide images of hundreds of pieces of intricate, elaborate jewelry, including brooches, rings and jeweled belts. [25] At the same time, there was some more simplistic work, using intricately worked gold, but without the precious stones adorning it. [25]

By the end of the period, the types of personal jewellery worn by wealthy women were not very different from those found today, with rings, necklaces, brooches, lockets and (less often) earrings all popular. But accessories such as belts and purses, as well as other personal possessions such as combs and book-covers might also be jewelled in a way rarely found today. Poorer women wore smaller quantities of similar styles of personal jewellery in cheaper materials, as today. Wealthy men wore far more jewellery than today, often including large chain collars, and a cap badge, which might be very extravagant.

Techniques

Gold earring found in Croatia, 1300-1350 Gold earring MCAM Split.jpg
Gold earring found in Croatia, 1300–1350

Due to the established tradition from ancient times in combination with the knowledge of how to process gold in order to produce jewelry, the practice of gold being the base for all jewelry continued into the Middle Ages.

Soldering, plating and gilding

Goldsmiths used the techniques of soldering, plating and gilding to create a larger workable surface or to cover a secondary metal with a thin layer of gold for jewelry design. First, the goldsmith would start with a gold ingot, which would then be hammered into a sheet, a foil or a leaf of gold. [26] Soldering is the process of joining together multiple sheets of metal to create a single larger piece. [27] The way this was achieved was by using a more impure form of gold – that is one with a higher percent of non-gold metals – as a joining tool. [27] The higher the impurity of gold, the more quickly it will melt, and as such the impure gold would melt before the pure and could then be used to attach two or more pieces of purer gold. [27] This would create a larger surface while retaining the thickness of the gold sheets. Gold sheets could be hammered to a higher level of fineness; gold foil was approximately the thickness of a piece of paper and gold leaf could be as thin as 0.005 millimeters. [26] The process of plating involved gold foil being hammered or smoothed over a core of glass or another metal. [28] Gilding used gold leaf adhered or pressed onto a base of terracotta or a metal such as copper. [29] Both of these techniques allowed for jewelry to have the appearance and associated prestige of gold, without using solid gold which was rare and expensive.

Repoussé, inlay, enamelling, filigree and granulation

Jewellers used delicate methods to achieve delicate metalwork. These methods involved more precise work intended to create ornamentation on jewelry. [26] Repoussé was the process of laying a gold sheet on pitch and using concentrated pressure to form the pattern. [30] Other materials, such as soft wood, lead and wax could also be used underneath the gold. [26] Because these materials are malleable, they supported and held the gold in place while it was patterned and pushed into grooves in the base material to form the relief that created the jewelry. [30] Two techniques that jewellers used to incorporate gems, glass and other metals into jewelry were inlay and enamelling. [31] The main difference between these methods is that inlay can refer to any material inserted into a design, whereas enamel refers specifically to pieces of a coloured glass mixture put in place while melted. [32] The decorative pieces would be inserted into a gold setting that had been shaped out of gold strips or molten glass could be poured into contours and recesses in the gold – known respectively as cloisonné and champlevé. [31]

Filigree and granulation are two processes that are also closely related. They involve the decoration of a sheet of gold using the application of wires or grains of gold which can be worked into very intricate patterns. [33] These techniques allowed for intense detail and delicacy because the wires or grains could easily be worked into twisted patterns and minuscule facets. [34] All of these techniques enabled detailed work on gold jewelry, adding other materials or fine details.

Further reading

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 Black (1974) , p. 18
  2. ↑ Cherry (2011) , pp. 50–62
  3. ↑ Higgins (1980) , p. 7
  4. ↑ Higgins (1980) , p. 8
  5. ↑ Cherry (2011) , pp. 28–33
  6. ↑ Cherry (2011) , pp. 33–36
  7. ↑ Wixom, William D. (1999). Mirror of The Medieval World. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art. p. 157.
  8. ↑ Cherry (2011) , p. 36
  9. ↑ Aceto, M. (2017). "Multi-Technique Characterization of Adhesives Used in Medieval Jewellery". Archaeometry. 59 (6): 1105–1118. doi:10.1111/arcm.12297. hdl: 2318/1631667 . S2CID   136038809.
  10. ↑ Evans (2004) , p. 40
  11. ↑ Black (1974) , p. 112
  12. ↑ British Museum Collection
  13. ↑ Black (1974) , p. 113
  14. ↑ Black (1974) , p. 116
  15. ↑ Black (1974) , pp. 116–117
  16. ↑ Black (1974) , p. 121
  17. 1 2 Black (1974) , p. 122
  18. ↑ Black (1974) , p. 123
  19. 1 2 Black (1974) , p. 125
  20. ↑ Black (1974) , p. 104
  21. 1 2 Black (1974) , pp. 104–105
  22. ↑ Black (1974) , p. 105
  23. ↑ S. McK. C. (1957) , p. 12
  24. ↑ Black (1974) , p. 128
  25. 1 2 Black (1974) , p. 130
  26. 1 2 3 4 Higgins (1980) , p. 12
  27. 1 2 3 Black (1974) , p. 20
  28. ↑ Higgins (1980) , p. 29
  29. ↑ Higgins (1980) , p. 30
  30. 1 2 Black (1974) , p. 22
  31. 1 2 Black (1974) , pp. 32, 35
  32. ↑ Higgins (1980) , pp. 24, 27
  33. ↑ Higgins (1980) , p. 19
  34. ↑ Black (1974) , p. 26

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jewellery</span> Form of personal adornment

Jewellery consists of decorative items worn for personal adornment, such as brooches, rings, necklaces, earrings, pendants, bracelets, and cufflinks. Jewellery may be attached to the body or the clothes. From a western perspective, the term is restricted to durable ornaments, excluding flowers for example. For many centuries metal such as gold often combined with gemstones, has been the normal material for jewellery, but other materials such as glass, shells and other plant materials may be used.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Necklace</span> Jewellery worn around the neck

A necklace is an article of jewellery that is worn around the neck. Necklaces may have been one of the earliest types of adornment worn by humans. They often serve ceremonial, religious, magical, or funerary purposes and are also used as symbols of wealth and status, given that they are commonly made of precious metals and stones.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vitreous enamel</span> Material made by fusing powdered glass to a substrate by firing

Vitreous enamel, also called porcelain enamel, is a material made by fusing powdered glass to a substrate by firing, usually between 750 and 850 °C. The powder melts, flows, and then hardens to a smooth, durable vitreous coating. The word vitreous comes from the Latin vitreus, meaning "glassy".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brooch</span> Large ornament with a pin fastening

A brooch is a decorative jewellery item designed to be attached to garments, often to fasten them together. It is usually made of metal, often silver or gold or some other material. Brooches are frequently decorated with enamel or with gemstones and may be solely for ornament or serve a practical function as a clothes fastener. The earliest known brooches are from the Bronze Age. As fashions in brooches changed rather quickly, they are important chronological indicators. In archaeology, ancient European brooches are usually referred to by the Latin term fibula.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cloisonné</span> Enamelling technique used on metal

Cloisonné is an ancient technique for decorating metalwork objects with colored material held in place or separated by metal strips or wire, normally of gold. In recent centuries, vitreous enamel has been used, but inlays of cut gemstones, glass and other materials were also used during older periods; indeed cloisonné enamel very probably began as an easier imitation of cloisonné work using gems. The resulting objects can also be called cloisonné. The decoration is formed by first adding compartments to the metal object by soldering or affixing silver or gold as wires or thin strips placed on their edges. These remain visible in the finished piece, separating the different compartments of the enamel or inlays, which are often of several colors. Cloisonné enamel objects are worked on with enamel powder made into a paste, which then needs to be fired in a kiln. If gemstones or colored glass are used, the pieces need to be cut or ground into the shape of each cloison.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tara Brooch</span> Irish Celtic brooch

The Tara Brooch is an Irish Celtic brooch, dated to the late-7th or early-8th century, of the pseudo-penannular type. It is made from bronze, silver and gold, with a head formed from a circular ring that is intricately decorated on both sides. Its upper half is hollow while the lower half is solid with fused terminals. The brooch was constructed from numerous individually made pieces. Its' front and reverse sides are equally decorated; each holds around 50 inserted cast panels packed with filigree. The borders and terminals contain multiple panels holding multi-coloured studs, interlace patterns, filigree and Celtic spirals. The Tara brooch is widely considered the most complex and ornate of its kind, and would have been commissioned as a fastener for the cloak of a high ranking cleric or as ceremonial insignia of high office for a High King of Ireland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Filigree</span> Form of intricate metalwork used in jewellery

Filigree is a form of intricate metalwork used in jewellery and other small forms of metalwork.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Niello</span> Black mixture of copper, silver, and lead sulphides

Niello is a black mixture, usually of sulphur, copper, silver, and lead, used as an inlay on engraved or etched metal, especially silver. It is added as a powder or paste, then fired until it melts or at least softens, and flows or is pushed into the engraved lines in the metal. It hardens and blackens when cool, and the niello on the flat surface is polished off to show the filled lines in black, contrasting with the polished metal around it. It may also be used with other metalworking techniques to cover larger areas, as seen in the sky in the diptych illustrated here. The metal where niello is to be placed is often roughened to provide a key. In many cases, especially in objects that have been buried underground, where the niello is now lost, the roughened surface indicates that it was once there.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anglo-Saxon art</span> English art of the Anglo-Saxon period

Anglo-Saxon art covers art produced within the Anglo-Saxon period of English history, beginning with the Migration period style that the Anglo-Saxons brought with them from the continent in the 5th century, and ending in 1066 with the Norman Conquest of England, whose sophisticated art was influential in much of northern Europe. The two periods of outstanding achievement were the 7th and 8th centuries, with the metalwork and jewellery from Sutton Hoo and a series of magnificent illuminated manuscripts, and the final period after about 950, when there was a revival of English culture after the end of the Viking invasions. By the time of the Conquest the move to the Romanesque style is nearly complete. The important artistic centres, in so far as these can be established, were concentrated in the extremities of England, in Northumbria, especially in the early period, and Wessex and Kent near the south coast.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Migration Period art</span> C. 300–900 Germanic and Hiberno-Saxon art

Migration Period art denotes the artwork of the Germanic peoples during the Migration period. It includes the Migration art of the Germanic tribes on the continent, as well the start of the Insular art or Hiberno-Saxon art of the Anglo-Saxon and Celtic fusion in Britain and Ireland. It covers many different styles of art including the polychrome style and the animal style. After Christianization, Migration Period art developed into various schools of Early Medieval art in Western Europe which are normally classified by region, such as Anglo-Saxon art and Carolingian art, before the continent-wide styles of Romanesque art and finally Gothic art developed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Champlevé</span> Enamelling technique

Champlevé is an enamelling technique in the decorative arts, or an object made by that process, in which troughs or cells are carved, etched, die struck, or cast into the surface of a metal object, and filled with vitreous enamel. The piece is then fired until the enamel fuses, and when cooled the surface of the object is polished. The uncarved portions of the original surface remain visible as a frame for the enamel designs; typically they are gilded in medieval work. The name comes from the French for "raised field", "field" meaning background, though the technique in practice lowers the area to be enamelled rather than raising the rest of the surface.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Treasure binding</span> Luxurious book cover using metalwork in gold or silver, jewels, or ivory

A treasure binding or jewelled bookbinding is a luxurious book cover using metalwork in gold or silver, jewels, or ivory, perhaps in addition to more usual bookbinding material for book covers such as leather, velvet, or other cloth. The actual bookbinding technique is the same as for other medieval books, with the folios, normally of vellum, stitched together and bound to wooden cover boards. The metal furnishings of the treasure binding are then fixed, normally by tacks, onto these boards. Treasure bindings appear to have existed from at least Late Antiquity, though there are no surviving examples from so early, and Early Medieval examples are very rare. They were less used by the end of the Middle Ages, but a few continued to be produced in the West even up to the present day, and many more in areas where Eastern Orthodoxy predominated. The bindings were mainly used on grand illuminated manuscripts, especially gospel books designed for the altar and use in church services, rather than study in the library.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of jewellery in Ukraine</span>

Jewellery as an art form originated as an expression of human culture. Body ornamentation, one purpose of jewellery, has been known since at least the Stone Age. The history of jewellery in Ukraine reflects the influence of many cultures and peoples who have occupied the territory in the past and present.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jewellery design</span> Art of designing and creating jewellery

Jewellery design is the art or profession of designing and creating jewellery. It is one of civilization's earliest forms of decoration, dating back at least 7,000 years to the oldest-known human societies in Indus Valley Civilization, Mesopotamia and Egypt. The art has taken many forms throughout the centuries, from the simple beadwork of ancient times to the sophisticated metalworking and gem-cutting known in the modern day.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hardstone carving</span> Artistic carving of semi-precious stones or gems

Hardstone carving, in art history and archaeology, is the artistic carving of semi-precious stones, such as jade, rock crystal, agate, onyx, jasper, serpentinite, or carnelian, and for objects made in this way. Normally the objects are small, and the category overlaps with both jewellery and sculpture. Hardstone carving is sometimes referred to by the Italian term pietre dure; however, pietra dura is the common term used for stone inlay work, which causes some confusion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Celtic brooch</span> Ring-and-pin clothing fastener

The Celtic brooch, more properly called the penannular brooch, and its closely related type, the pseudo-penannular brooch, are types of brooch clothes fasteners, often rather large; penannular means formed as an incomplete ring. They are especially associated with the beginning of the Early Medieval period in Ireland and Britain, although they are found in other times and places—for example, forming part of traditional female dress in areas in modern North Africa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Art in Medieval Scotland</span>

In the early Middle Ages, there were distinct material cultures evident in the different federations and kingdoms within what is now Scotland. Pictish art was the only uniquely Scottish medieval style; it can be seen in the extensive survival of carved stones, particularly in the north and east of the country, which hold a variety of recurring images and patterns. It can also be seen in elaborate metal work that largely survives in buried hoards. Irish-Scots art from the kingdom of Dál Riata suggests that it was one of the places, as a crossroads between cultures, where the Insular style developed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trewhiddle style</span>

Trewhiddle style is a distinctive style in Anglo-Saxon art that takes its name from the Trewhiddle Hoard, discovered in Trewhiddle, Cornwall in 1770. Trewhiddle ornamentation includes the use of silver, niello inlay, and zoomorphic, plant and geometric designs, often interlaced and intricately carved into small panels. It was primarily used to decorate metalwork. During the late Anglo-Saxon era, silver was the precious metal most commonly used to create Trewhiddle style jewellery and to decorate weapons. Famous examples include the Pentney Hoard, the Abingdon sword, the Fuller brooch, and the Strickland brooch.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Byzantine enamel</span>

The craft of cloisonné enameling is a metal and glass-working tradition practiced in the Byzantine Empire from the 6th to the 12th century AD. The Byzantines perfected an intricate form of vitreous enameling, allowing the illustration of small, detailed, iconographic portraits.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scottish jewellery</span>

Scottish jewellery is jewellery created in Scotland or in a style associated with Scotland, which today often takes the form of the Celtic style. It is often characterised by being inspired by nature, Scandinavian mythology, and Celtic knot patterns. Jewellery has a history in Scotland dating back to at least the Iron Age.

References

  • Black, J. Anderson (1974). A History of Jewels. London: Orbis Publishing Limited.
  • Cherry, John (2011). Medieval Goldsmiths (2nd ed.). The British Museum Press. ISBN   9780714128238.
  • Evans, Helen C. (2004). Byzantium: faith and power (1261–1557) . New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. ISBN   978-1588391131.
  • S. McK. C. (1957). "Medieval sculpture and jewelry". Bulletin of the Associates in Fine Arts at Yale University. 23 (1/2): 11–13. JSTOR   40514039.
  • Higgins, Reynold (1980). Greek and Roman Jewellery. London: Methuen & Co. Ltd. ISBN   9780416712100.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.