|
Greeks are believed to be the most civilized persons, evidences shows
that they were the richest person of those times. They were fond of
decorating their bodies, with a variety of clothes and jewellery. Based
on the researches and studies conducted, it is clear that around 1,400
BC, the Greeks started using the jewellery
made from gold and gems that were beautifully designed and created by
the skilled artisans. In past times, they were widely using the beads
shaped as shells and animals products. With the advancement in
civilization the trend of jewellery also developed. By 300 BC, they
mastered in making the jewellery by using the colored stones and gems
like amethysts, pearl and emeralds.
However, Greek jewellery was quite simpler than the jewellery used
by other cultures. This jewellery consists of simpler designs and
workmanship. However, as time progressed, the designs grew in intricacy
with the utilization of different materials. Some antique jewellery
collection has the samples like:
- Gold earring from Mycenae, 16th century BC
- First signs of cameos that Greeks created from Indian Sardonyx, a striped brown pink and cream agate stone
- Pendant with naked woman, made from electrum, Rhodes of around 630-620 BC.
Like other cultures, Greeks use their jewellery to display their
status and membership. They wore it on special occasions and were
mostly for public appearances. It was mainly worn by women to show
their wealth, social status and personal body decoration and was
commonly specified as a gift. They are used some of the jewellery based
on religious belief, to give the protection against the evils and
enemies. There were also superstitious thoughts that wearing the
special stones endowed the owner with supernatural powers, while others
had a religious symbolism. Older pieces of jewellery that have been
found were dedicated to the Gods.
Further studies reveal that during these times Northern Greece and
Macedon is the largest consumers and producers of jewellery. However,
most of the jewellery created during the Greek times was made of gold,
silver and bronze with ivory and gemstones. As the fossil samples, some
pieces of cast jewellery have been recovered, that might made by
casting the metal onto two stone or clay moulds. It was concluded that,
they worked two styles of pieces; cast pieces and hammered pieces, out
of sheet metal. The two halves were then joined, waxed and then mould
by keeping the molten metal in the centre of these halves. However,
this system had been practiced since the late Bronze Age.
The common form of jewellery was the hammered sheet type made from
the metal sheet after hammering it to thickness and then soldered
together. Some other techniques were also in use, such as using a stamp
or impression that was used to create pattern and ornamentations on the
jewellery. Stones and Jewels may then be added to vacant or unoccupied
spaced or glass poured into extraordinary cavities on the surface. Some
variations were observed in the Greek designs during 27 BC, were
greatly influenced by the Roman culture. Numerous colorful butterfly
pendants on silver foxtail chains have been found as the rare samples.
 |
Mike Feng
Show/Hide comment form