Antiquity
Premichenic
Silver was used in ancient Italy and Greece for personal adornments, vessels, jewelry, arrows, weapons, and coins. It was inlaid and silver. It was also mixed with gold to produce white gold and mixed with more basic metals.
Examples of ancient jewelry were found in the tomb of Queen Pu-abi at Ur in Sumer (now called Tall al-Muqayyar), dating from 3000 BC. In the crypt, the body of the queen was covered with jewels of gold, silver, lapis lazuli, carnelian, agate and chalcedony beads.
The Aegean lands were rich in precious metals. The considerable treasure deposits found in the oldest prehistoric strata of the site of Troy are not likely to be later than 2000 BC. The largest of these, called Priam’s Treasure, was a large silver cup containing gold ornaments consisting of elaborate headbands or pectorals, six bracelets, 60 earrings or hair rings, and nearly 9,000 beads. Silver was used extensively in the Greek islands, however only a few vessels, rings, pins, and tiaras survive.
Mycenaean and Minoan.
Three silver dagger blades were found in a communal grave in Kumasa. A silver cup found in Gournia dates from around 2000. Some Mycenae vases and jugs are also made of silver. Some of the Mycenaean leaves are inlaid with bronze with
gold ,, silver, niello and electrum.
Bronze to Iron Age
Engraved and embossed silver bowls made by Phoenicians have been found in Greece. Most of them have elaborate pictorial designs of an Egyptian or Assyrian character and therefore probably foreign to Greece.
However, some simpler types, decorated with rows of animals and flowers, can hardly be distinguished from early Hellenic products. A silver bowl from around the 5th century BC can be found in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. C. showing a fine floral style.
Silver vases and toiletries have been found alongside the most common bronze in Etruscan tombs. For example, a persecuted gunpowder box from the 4th century BC. C. in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Novel
During the 4th century BC. C. the trend of adorning silver vessels with relief was revived. This type of work, made in Hellenistic times and particularly in Antioch and Alexandria, remained the common method of decoration for silver items until the end of the Roman Empire.
A large number of Roman cutlery were buried during the violent last centuries of the ancient world. The largest, Boscoreale’s treasure (mainly in the Louvre), was accidentally saved by
the same volcanic eruption that destroyed Herculaneum and killed Pliny in AD 79. A slightly smaller treasure found in Hildesheim (now Berlin) also belongs to the early empire. The acquisition and appreciation of the silver plate was something of a cult in Rome. Technical names for various types of reliefs.
they were in common use (emblemta, sigilla, crustae). The weights were recorded and compared and were often exaggerated. Large quantities of bullion came to Rome from victories in battles in Greece and Asia during the 2nd century BC. C.
Early Christian and Byzantine
The oldest Christian goldwork closely resembles the pagan work of the time and uses stamping and chasing techniques. The design is sometimes classical, decorated with pagan scenes.
Most of the silver has been found in Syria, Egypt, Cyprus, Asia Minor, and Russia. These are mainly chalices, censers, candelabra, and bowls and plates. Chasing and stamping techniques were often employed, but abstract patterns and Christian symbols embedded in niello were also used. The 6th and 7th centuries saw the appearance of imperial control seals, the earliest precursors to seals.
Middle Ages
Carolingian and Ottonian
In the last quarter of the 8th century the design focused on
the human figure and the use of niello (chip carving technique).
Some examples are the Tassilo Chalice (umlnster Abbey, Austria) and the Lindau Gospels book cover (Pierpont Morgan Library, New York).
The most influential silver design was commissioned by royalty or the church. The plaque and the liturgical reliquaries, the altar crosses and the like did not undergo fundamental changes; Ottonian work from the late 10th and 11th centuries can be distinguished from that of the 9th only in the development of the style. For example, the largest and most massive figures, with their strict pattern of folds, on the golden altar (c. 1023) gifted by Henry II to Basel.
Minster (Musée de Cluny, Paris), are markedly different from the elongated, nervous figures of the Carolingian period.
Romanesque
In the 12th century, the church was the main patron of the arts and work was carried out in the larger monasteries. Under the direction of great ecclesiastics such as Henry, Bishop of Winchester, and Abbot Suger of Saint-Denis, near Paris, a new emphasis was given to the theme and symbolism.
Gold and silver continued to be used as rich settings for enamels such as the frame for portable altars, or small devotional diptychs or triptychs and shrines such as the shrine of St. Heribert at Deutz (c. 1160) and Nicholas.
from the Sanctuary of the Three Kings of Verdun in Cologne (c. 1200).
The growing naturalism of the thirteenth century is notable in the work of the follower of Nicholas Hugo d’Oignies, whose reliquary for the rib of Saint Peter at Namur (1228) foreshadows the partially glass reliquaries in which the freestanding relic is exposed to view. . of the faithful; is decorated with Hugo’s
particularly fine filigree and enriched with naturalistic cut leaves and cast small animals and birds.
The growing wealth of the royal courts, the aristocracy and, later, the merchants led to the establishment of secular workshops in large cities and the founding of guilds or guilds of silversmiths, the first being that of Paris in 1202..
Late Gothic saw increased production of secular silver due to the rise of the middle classes. English mazers (wooden troughs with silver frames) and silver spoons with a variety of finials are examples of this more modest dish. Numerous large reliquaries and altar.
dishes of all kinds were still produced. In the late Middle Ages the style of these pieces and of the secular plate developed more distinctive national characteristics, strongly influenced by architectural style: in England, by the geometric patterns of the Perpendicular; in Germany, for heavy and
strange themes of almost baroque exuberance; and in France, for the fragile elegance of the Flamboyant.
Silver purity standards were rigorously controlled and the “hallmark of contrast” was imposed; the silver mark in England, especially, was carefully observed.
In the Far East, the silversmith’s skills were unsurpassed, as evidenced by this solid silver bowl (photos are 4x magnification of the original item) made around 1398 in Kampochea, Cambodia detailing the wars with neighboring Thai rulers.
Islam
The use of gold and silver in the lands of Islam was limited because it was forbidden by the Qur’an. Although the prohibition
was often ignored, the great value of such objects led to their early destruction and melting. Islamic jewelry from the early period is therefore extremely rare, represented only by a few items, such as buckles and bracelets from the Mongolian periods and pieces such as the silver chest from Gerona in Spain and the Berlin silver jug from the 13th century , with reliefs in relief. of friezes of animals.
Renaissance to modern
16th century
Using silver from New America, the Spanish silversmiths, silverware, gave their name to the plateresque style of the time, very ornate. England also abounded in 16th century secular silver, but the church plate was mostly destroyed during the Reformation.
Baroque
The Huguenot silversmiths who left France after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685 brought new standards of taste and craftsmanship where they settled, particularly in England, where the biggest names of the late 17th and early 18th centuries were of French origin. : Pierre Harache, Pierre Platel, David Willaume, Simon Pantin, Paul de Lamerie, Paul Crespin, to mention just a few silver furniture, a feature of the halls of Versailles, became fashionable among royalty and nobles. It was built with silver plates attached to
a wooden frame. Each suite had a dresser, mirror, and a couple of chandeliers. In France, these pieces of furniture did not survive the Revolution, but much remains in England, Denmark, Germany, and Russia.
In the Far East, Chinese silversmiths produced some of the most elegant and beautifully crafted silver jewelry, some of which was exported to the royalty of Russia.
18th century
The English work of the early 18th century combined functional simplicity with grace of form, while the work of Dutch and German goldsmiths is similar in style but of less pleasing proportions. The success of the English play, however,
it is due in part to the destruction of all but a fraction of French silver from the same period. English silver in the classic 18th century style of Robert and James Adam has mixed merit due to the use of industrial methods by some large producers.
Colonial america
Goldsmithing in the New World in the colonial period is mainly from England. In North America it was first brought to New England by English artisans in the 17th century. The most important centers were Boston, Newport, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Annapolis. Outstanding collections include the Mabel Brady Garvan Collection at Yale University and those at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the American
Wing of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and in the Philadelphia Museum of Art. North American colonial silver is distinguished by its simplicity and elegant forms, copied or adapted from the English silver of the time. Meanwhile, the colonial silver from Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, Peru, Chile and Bolivia,
Although mostly Spanish in concept, it shows a mix of Iberian designs and shapes, with indigenous influences dating back to pre-Hispanic times. Most of these relics survive in churches as sacramental vessels.
19th century
Napoleon’s empire restored prominence to French fashion and was widely followed on the continent. England created its own more robust version of the Empire style. A recognizable Victorian style evolved in particular high quality buttons, coins, sterling silver and Sheffield
board, setting new high standards of design and management of factories and wellness services. This was followed by the craft revival associated with William Morris and the distinctive Art Nouveau style.
Modern
Factories evolved using modern equipment, for example, laser stone cutting, stamping, pressing, spinning, casting, and mechanical polishing. These factories supply almost all
street jewelry retailers. The evolution of style is now dictated by the buying public. Little has changed in the design of gold engagement or wedding rings; however, the demands of fashion have created an environment in which the liveliest designs are often those for silver and costume jewelry.
In Paris, René Lalique’s designs inspired Art Nouveau, while in Moscow, Peter Carl Fabergé set an excellent standard of craftsmanship for small ornaments. In Denmark, Georg Jensen, with Johan Rohde and others achieved not only an individual Danish style, but built several factories with outlets around the world, thus proving that good modern design in silver
jewelry doesn’t have to be limited to artist studios.
