Metalwork

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Gold in the Ancient World

The earliest formed gold objects, however, are small beads found in prehistoric graves in Egypt, which may date from before the 6th millennium bc. Gold was plentiful in Egypt's desert areas between the border of cultivation on the east bank of the Nile and the Red Sea and also to the south of Egypt in Nubia. A rather comprehensive picture of Egyptian goldwork over the 4000 years of its history has been obtained through the excavation of many sites during the past 200 years. Gold was reserved for the use of the kings in the Old Kingdom (2575-2134 bc) and for the nobility and priesthood in later periods. It was used for jewelry, including head ornaments, large pectorals (collar necklaces), rings, earrings, and bracelets, and special funerary equipment, including all of the above as well as toe- and finger-guards and ceremonial sandals. Gold was also used for the decoration of insignia of kingly power—the flail, the scepter, and the throne—as well as for drinking cups and such personal weapons as daggers. The solid gold coffin (1323? bc, Egyptian Museum, Cairo) discovered (1922) in the tomb of the pharaoh Tutankhamun and weighing 1128.5 kg (2448 lb) is proof of the abundance of gold available by the time of the 18th dynasty. The Romans who made contact with Egypt under Cleopatra in the 1st century bc were amazed at her wealth, represented by quantities of gold utensils and ornaments and by the plethora of luxury crafts practiced at Alexandria, including perfumery, elaborate glassblowing and glass cutting, and, of course, goldsmith's work. When Egypt became a Roman province, many of these luxury arts were carried to Rome and especially to Pompeii by migrating craftsmen.

The use of gold in the ancient Mesopotamian civilizations of Sumer, Babylon, and Assyria and later those of Syria and Persia (present-day Iran), as well as the succeeding powers in Anatolia and Greece, paralleled that of Egypt, although each culture had its own distinct artistic style. Gold was also owned by the great chieftains of the nomadic Scythian tribes who roamed areas stretching from the lower Danube basin in Europe to eastern Kazakhstan in Central Asia. Through their trading contacts with settled peoples to the south, they obtained a great deal of gold that was elaborately worked into large ornaments—such as neck torques—and such personal objects as drinking bowls and daggers.

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European Gold

The restrictive use of gold practiced in the ancient world was continued in the Roman and subsequent Byzantine empires and in the European kingdoms that were their successors; the same restrictions on its use were perpetuated in the European colonies and settlements that were to become the modern sovereign states in North and South America, South Africa, and Australia. It is still reserved for religious objects, state regalia—especially crowns, scepters and seals—for marriage rings and personal jewelry, and for prizes and trophies.

Gold still commands a deep, almost reverent respect. The great enameled gold salt (1540-1543, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna) wrought by Benvenuto Cellini for Francis I of France was not an egregious use of the metal, for at the time salt was still considered a precious commodity of almost mystical importance. Where it was impractical to make domestic pieces in solid gold—such as drinking cups, which would be too heavy and too easily scratched or dented—it was common practice in Europe for many centuries to gild silver vessels. Kings, princes, and religious or civil potentates, however, might still use pure gold pieces, such as cups or chalices, on high ceremonial occasions.

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Gold in Africa and the New World

Similar restrictions were observed in the seaboard kingdoms of West Africa contacted by the exploring Portuguese in the 15th century. Gold was reserved for the use of chieftains and nobility, not so much for reasons of vanity or self-importance, but because its mystical attraction and power should only be available to a consecrated individual or an elite caste. The Spanish conquerors of Mexico and the South American empires were amazed at the superabundance of gold, as well as the absence of greed in its owners. Gold was used for religious and ceremonial artifacts, often of great size and solidity, but it was its color—in these sun-worshiping cultures—that was prized, not its monetary or bargaining value. The German Renaissance master Albrecht Dürer, who saw gold and other treasures from the New World during his stay in Antwerp in 1521, was particularly struck by the unusual forms and artistry of the goldwork; he recorded his appreciation of their beauty, even though they were wrought in an artistic idiom that was totally alien to European art.

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Chinese Gold

Silk merchants of the Earlier Han dynasty (206 bc-ad 220) required payment in gold from the intermediaries catering to the Roman luxury trade. Apparently, the Chinese were reluctant to disturb the earth's spirits by mining. Gold was used in small quantities—mostly for inlay—in the late Zhou (Chou) period (c. 500-250 bc), which probably came from native gold nuggets. Whenever contacts with the West were maintained, however, large amounts of both silver and gold reached China and were wrought with characteristic refinement. The periods of contact were the Han, Tang (T’ang), late Yuan (Yüan), Ming, and Qing (Ch’ing) dynasties. Goldwork of the Han dynasty is especially fine; it included granulation, learned from Western models, and lost-wax castings (see Cire Perdue), a technique long practiced in China for bronzes. Most characteristic of the Ming period are the delicate openwork head ornaments and tiaras, often decorated with filigree and with jewels held on wires that trembled as the wearer moved.

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Silver

In the region called Pontus in ancient times, fronting the southern coast of the Black Sea of what is now eastern Turkey, silver began to be produced by smelting galena, an ore containing lead with a small proportion of silver. This development was subsequent to the first smelting of copper ores farther to the east; it may, however, have followed quite close upon it, for galena ore sparkles with visible promise. Migrating copper smelters may have been the first to recognize its metallic potential. The discovery that lead ultimately will burn away during a protracted roasting, leaving a small globule of silver, was probably accidental.

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