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As Pieces of Workmanship
THE INTELLECTUAL OBSERVER.
FEBRUARY, 1867.
ANCIENT JEWELRY.
BY WILLIAM DUTHIE. (With a Coloured Plate.) ANTIQUARIANS, acute, learned, and indefatigable, have taken such pains to describe, among other ancient remains, the specimens of Egyptian jewelry which have been discovered in recent times, that it might appear unnecessary to treat of them further. After the elaborate explanations of Prisse d'Avennes, Daly, Sir Gardiner Wilkinson, Dr. Birch, and others, of Egyptian ornaments, and the voluminous account given by Mr. Layard of Assyrian antiquities, there might appear to be a certain presumption in any attempt to enlarge upon a subject which had been already so amply and so ably treated.
But, however carefully these ancient and interesting relics may have been described in an archæological point of view, they have never yet been dealt with in a practical way as pieces of workmanship; and it is in this light it is purposed to consider them here. It is evident that, so considered, they offer a very interesting field, not merely for speculation, but for the accumulation of proofs directly tending to show the progress made in the finer mechanical processes of art-workmanship in those early ages. To a workman, testing them by his own special knowledge, they may give evidence of a character different from, and not less interesting than, that offered to the antiquarian and the philosopher.
Acting upon this idea, the pieces of jewelry in the Coloured Plate have been selected as much for the purpose of illustrating certain points of workmanship, as for their marked character and beauty; to show, in fact, what advance the Egyptians and Assyrians had made in the arts of casting, chasing, soldering, stone-cutting, and other more technical processes in the manufacture of personal ornaments. It is believed that the objects chosen have not hitherto been engraved, and these VOL. XI. NO. I.
B are represented in some cases in the state in which they were worn, instead of in their present dilapidated condition. With the exception of No. 1, an earring reduced from many examples of the same ornament on the colossal figures of the Assyrian bas-reliefs, the specimens shown are to be found in the cases of the British Museum. The very curious and beautiful collection of relics discovered at Thebes, and exhibited by the Pasha of Egypt at the English International Exhibition of 1862, would not have served the writer's purpose equally well, the majority of them not coming within the category of jewelry, being testimonial pieces, or symbols of office. These relics have been fully explained by Dr. Birch, and carefully copied and illuminated by Mr. Kiddle, of the War Office.* They are, it is believed, the most ancient specimens of art-workmanship in the precious metals in existence, dating from about B.c. 1800, or 3600 years ago. They will be again referred to.
It is surprising how far into the inner life of a people an examination of the works under review may lead; for the existence of one fact, proved to demonstration by the work itself, helps to establish other facts not so patent, and to suggest consequences of great interest, and of the utmost importance in determining the condition of art-manufacture at the period referred to. When, in opening some ancient British tumulus, the antiquarian unearths a rude ornament of gold, probably the breast or neck decoration of a chief, and finds it to consist of a simple thin plate, beaten into something like shape to serve its important purpose; having no mark of chasing-tool or graver, and, above all, no union by solder of two parts together, he must inevitably come to the conclusion that the goldsmith's art, at the time the ornament was made, must have been in the most primitive condition. It must be at once evident that here is simply a piece of hammer-work, in the making of which little taste and less skill have been exerted. On the other hand, every little addition to the naked piece of metal is not only a proof of a higher state of art in itself, but is evidence of progress in other directions of a kindred nature. Even so small a thing as a piece of wire is a sign of a decided advance in art upon the original crude plate; and, moreover, it shows progress in mechanical appliances; for the production of a piece of wire implies the possession of tools of an exact and complex character. Examined in this way, the process of manufacture of a simple piece of jewelry will serve to show the existence of other arts than that of the goldsmith. * Fac-similes of the Egyptian Relics Discovered at Thebes, 4to, London,