and Assyrians, but the Hebrews and peoples throughout Asia perfected the goldsmith’s arts. Egyptian tombs have yielded perfectly-chased pectorals, scarab necklaces, symbolic fish, lotus flowers, and so on. However, these cannot compete with Greek jewellery.
The goldsmith’s trade was a school which produced masters. Lysippos hammered metal before he became sculptor; Alexander, third son of Perseus, king of Macedon, did not think it disparaging to make chasings in gold and silver. The large votive vase in the temple of Minerva has immortalised the name of Aristotle of Hiton. Calumis, sculptor as he was, used to embellish silver vases with bas-reliefs, which, in the days of Nero, were, at Rome and among the Gauls, an article of luxury for the rich and a subject of emulation for artists. However, magnificent works, crowns, vases, and jewellery, have honoured our museums and suffice to prove that the songs of Homer and the descriptions of Pliny were not exaggerated.
The Greeks excelled in the working of metal, which they decorated with repoussé work and did not solder, while the Egyptians were the masters of pictorial representation in jewellery.
However, we are more familiar with Roman and Etruscan gold work thanks to the excavations of the necropolis of Etruria and particularly those carried out in the ruins of Herculaneum and Pompeii. Amongst other objects, the clips, earrings, hooks, mirrors, and brooches recovered there are admirable for their shape, taste, and beauty. The Romans, in fact, loved gold and precious stones and brought a delicate good taste to their jewellery which Eastern peoples, who were more preoccupied with originality than with the aesthetic aspects of their art, lacked. The Byzantine emperors, too, would further emphasise luxury and their strange heavy jewellery is often accused of lacking taste. However, Byzantium at least has the excuse of achieving real luxury and the magnificent abundance it expresses perhaps makes amends for other deficiencies. It is “a dazzling jumble of enamels, cameos, niellos, pearls, garnets, sapphires, and gold and silver indented work”. (Théophile Gautier.) The Gauls and Franks seem to have been fond of the necklaces and rings made of precious metals of which so many examples have been found in their tombs. Gallo-Roman gold and silver smiths have left us many examples of bracelets and armbands in the shape of coiled snakes, necklaces, badges, brooches, and so on. Generally speaking, the style of these pieces is closely aligned with the building style and decoration of the period. We suggested earlier that a piece of furniture is a miniature architectural monument. Similarly, a piece of jewellery is a miniature monument in gold or silver. We will recognise the designs used from the pediments of temples or the columns of the time and the shape from one or other detail of a building or the curve of a typical amphora.
The list of Egyptian furniture includes chests, pedestal tables, armchairs, stools and tables which are relatively similar in shape to our own. They are decorated with metals, ivory, mother-of-pearl, and precious woods. They have brightly-coloured coverings and there are cushions on the armchairs and stools. The beds have a kind of bed base made of strips of fibres or leather which show that comfort was a consideration. The chests take the form of miniature dwellings or temples. In summary, the Egyptian style is characterised by the hieratical, monumental nature of its statuary, by its columns and capitals (palm tree or lotus), by its sphinx, by the colossi with the heads of the pharaohs and its animal-headed gods, by its obelisk and by its pyramids, by its decoratively-deployed hieroglyphs, and finally by the huge size of its buildings. Furthermore, the widely-used decorative sacred scarab motif should not be forgotten.
The weaving of textiles dates from the earliest ages of the world, and even now we are struck with amazement at the perfection of the works produced by the hands of the ancient Egyptian craftsmen. With the primitive looms and materials spun by hand, they obtained wonderful fabrics. We learn, from the description of yarn found in the Louvre, about the fine long pile and fringed material, called fimbria and the transparent fabric styled by the Latins, nebula linea, which we will again meet with in the East at Mossoul, whence it reaches us under the name of muslin.
Whether from a civil or religious point of view, the most ancient decoration of buildings and interiors consists of hangings, the accompaniment of statues, paintings, and mosaics. However far we go back into antiquity, we can trace their use; from the heroic ages, the Phrygian and Grecian women succeeded in representing flowers and human figures, not only by means of embroidery, but in the elegant fabric itself. The young girls summoned to take part in the Panathenaic procession embroidered beforehand the veil or peplum of Minerva, an enormous hanging which was used to cover the roofless area in the temple of the goddess.
2. Anonymous. Armchair of Hetepheres, Dynasty IV, 2575–2551 BCE. Gilded wood, 79.5 × 71 cm. Egyptian Museum, Cairo. Egyptian Antiquity.
3. Anonymous. Bracelets from the tomb of Djer, Dynasty I, 2920–2770 BCE. Gold, lapis lazuli, length: 10.2–15.6 cm. Egyptian Museum, Cairo. Egyptian Antiquity.
4. Anonymous. Pendant, Imdugud, the Lion-Headed Eagle, Royal Palace of Mari, c. 2650 BCE. Lapis lazuli, gold, bitumen, and copper, 12.8 × 11.8 cm. National Museum of Damascus, Damascus. Eastern Antiquity.
5. Anonymous. Decorative panel, Dynasty III, 2630–2611 BCE. Limestone and stoneware, 181 × 203 cm. Egyptian Museum, Cairo. Egyptian Antiquity.
6. Anonymous. Labels for vases, Dynasty I, 2920–2770 BCE. Ivory. Egyptian Museum, Cairo. Egyptian Antiquity.
7. Anonymous. Inlaid panel of a soundboard from a lyre, c. 2600 BCE. Seashell and bitumen, 31.1 × 11.3 cm. University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Philadelphia. Eastern Antiquity.
8. Anonymous. The Standard of Ur (double-sided), c. 2600–2400 BCE. Wood, seashell, red limestone, and lapis lazuli, 21.5 × 49.5 cm. British Museum, London. Eastern Antiquity.
9. Anonymous. Litter belonging to Hetepheres, Dynasty IV, 2575–2551 BCE. Wood with gold leaf, height: 52 cm. Egyptian Museum, Cairo. Egyptian Antiquity.
10. Anonymous. Bed belonging to Hetepheres, Dynasty IV, 2575–2551 BCE. Wood with gold leaf, 178 × 21.5 × 35.5 cm. Egyptian Museum, Cairo. Egyptian Antiquity.
11. Anonymous. Bowls belonging to Hetepheres, Dynasty IV, 2575–2551 BCE. Wood with gold leaf, diameter: 8–8.5 cm. Egyptian Museum, Cairo. Egyptian Antiquity.
12. Anonymous. Chains with amulets and clasp, c. 2055–1650 BCE. Silver, lapis lazuli, glass, feldspar, electrum, carnelian, amethyst, length: 47 cm. British Museum, London. Egyptian Antiquity.
13. Anonymous. Earrings, Dynasty XVIII, c. 1550–1295 BCE. Gold, diameter: 2.6 cm. British Museum, London. Egyptian Antiquity.
14. Anonymous. Necklace with pectoral, dedicated to Sesostris II, Dynasty XII, 1898–1881 BCE. Gold and semi-precious stones, height: 4.9 cm. Egyptian Museum, Cairo. Egyptian Antiquity.
15. Anonymous. Pendant in the shape of a shell inscribed with the name of Ibshemuabi, King of Byblos, 2000–1500 BCE. Gold, semi-precious stones, 7.5 × 7 cm. Directorate General of Antiquities, Beirut. Eastern Antiquity.
16. Anonymous. Pendant belonging to Mereret, Dynasty XII, 1881–1794 BCE. Semi-precious stones, height: 4.6 cm. Egyptian Museum, Cairo. Egyptian Antiquity.
17. Anonymous. Ceremonial