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The History of the Craft
Precious metals - gold and silver - attracted people from ancient times.
The natural qualities, beauty and rarity of these metals led people to
an idea to make them the symbols of power and prestige, and
the possession of them became the sign of richness and nobility. Precious
metals were used to make sacred and ritual objects and jewellery. These
objects were used on special occasions to demonstrate that their owners
belonged to the high society and followed the rules of that society.
The jewellers noticed the natural features of the precious metals: the
low melting points, their durability and easiness in working with them.
Different techniques were used to work with pure gold and silver. One
of the inventions was the technique of filigree (from Latin
filum - wire and granum - grain). It demanded special devices.
The pure metal is drawn into thin wires. From one gram of metal several
hundreds of metres can be drawn. The wires are drawn through the holes
of different diameters, twisted, flattened and then cut into short fragments.
These "ribbons" are used to make objects. Such technique was
used in different areas in modern times - in the Orient as well as in
the West and in Russia. In Ancient world it was also widely spread. High-quality
objects of thin filigree were created in Egypt and Greece in the
1st millennium BC. One can remember the famous earrings of Greek
make excavated in Theodosia on the Black Sea coast (State
Hermitage collection). In the 1st millennium AD new centres
of jewellery appeared, where filigree was also used - in Arabic world,
Armenia and later in Russia.
In the Far East, in China, filigree was already produced in the periods
of Han (210 BC.-220 AD) and Tang (618-907) dynasties.
In the tombs of that time archeologists excavated objects made in this
technique. We can suggest that the technique of filigree was developing
without break in the 1st millennium AD. During the Mongol
period in the 13th-14th centuries many craftsmen transferred by the Mongols
from different places were working in the new centres. They introduced
new techniques to the jewellers working in old traditions and they exchanged
their experience. That led to the development of universal style and devices.
The filigree objects with similar features can be found on a vast territory
of modern China, Central Asia, Turkey, Syria, Armenia, Italy and Russia.
Sometimes the influence was indirect via nearby centres and exchange of
precious gifts. By the 16th-17th centuries that technique
was used nearly in every country of Europe and Asia. The historical events
played an important role at that time.
The spreading of Jews and Huguenots, among whom there were many jewellers
exiled from Spain and France in the the 15th-17th centuries
to other countries of Europe, was of great importance. Another
factor for the developing of the universal style in 16th-17th centuries
were geographical discoveries, the opening of new routes and countries,
the foundation of Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch and British colonies and
sea trade with India, China and South-East Asia. East India companies
helped to the spreading of the filigree technique along the sea routes
and in the centres connecting metropolises with colonies. It was in South
East Asia and India that craftsmen from the far countries, e.g. from China,
were settling, bringing with them filigree objects as samples. There were
Chinese settlements in Batavia (present-day Jakarta) on Java. From the
16th up to the 19th century the European trade with
China was concentrated in Kuang-chou (Canton). The place was famous for
export ware including filigree. From that port the export art was brought
to the distant places. In the 18th century the jewellers
started to make filigree in central India, in Deccan.
The countries controlling the trade were Portugal, Spain, Holland and
the Great Britain. At the beginning of that trade the
exotic items were brought to Europe and were acquired by the
rulers, monasteries and churches for the kunstkameras and treasuries.
Among the exotica there were silver filigree objects. The export art was
brought by sea, and on the route the ships stopped at the Indonesia islands,
Coromandel Coast of India in the east and Malabar Coast in the west, with
a centre in Portuguese colony of Goa. The filigree silver preserved in
different collections points to the interest of Europeans to the
items from China and Indies, which were of superb quality and exotic
materials. Another important thing was cheap labour in the Orient, and
due to these factors jewellery and other objects were often ordered in
the East. However, craftsmen followed European samples and designs in
shapes, coats-of-arms and ornaments. That is why it is still very difficult
to recognize the origin of silver filigree pieces.
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Earrings
Ancient Greece
Larger view
Pectoral (?)
Great Mongol State
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Pair of boxes with dragons on the covers
China
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In a workshop in India
Jeweller making wires in a workshop in India
Larger view
Modern board for pulling wire (in the foreground)
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Examples of filigree designs
Samples of filigree (left)
Examples of filigree ornaments (right)
Larger view
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