Caelatūra
（
τορευτική). Both the Greek and the Roman name come from
the words denoting in the two languages “the graver's tool” (
caelum,
τορεύς); and in its general sense
caelatura may be taken as meaning the arts employed in the production of
ornamental works in metal, both in relief and in intaglio, including repoussé work,
chasing, and engraving, but excluding statuary. See
Statuaria Ars.
The chief literary source of our information regarding the toreutic art is Pliny (
Pliny H. N. xxxiii. 154-157); and a complete list
of the passages in the ancient writers, referring to this art, has been made by Overbeck in
his
Antiken Schriftquellen, s. v. “Toreutik.” It is,
however, from the artistic remains of antiquity that its history can best be
studied—remains that are magnificently represented in the great museums of Europe.
The earliest specimens of ornamental metalwork discovered on Greek soil are those found by
Dr. Schliemann at Hissarlik in the Troad, consisting of a large number of objects in gold,
such as bracelets, ear-rings, and diadems. Among the specimens, of which a detailed
description will be found in Schliemann's
Ilios (London and N. Y.,
1880), may be mentioned the following: bracelets, consisting of a thick gold plate
piped with wire and adorned with spiral ornaments of gold wire soldered on the plate; a
diadem, composed principally of hexago
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Brooches of Gold—actual size. (Schliemann, Ilios , p.
488.)
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nal leaves of gold; hair-pins, consisting of a quadrangular plate ornamented with
spirals of gold wires soldered on like the bracelets just mentioned;
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Gold Diadem from the so-called Treasure of Priam, as actually worn. (Schliemann,
Ilios , p. 458.)
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gold disks, of which one represents a flower of star form, in repoussé
work. The appellation “Treasure of Priam” given by the discoverer to a
large class of these objects is misleading, inasmuch as the art described in the Homeric poems
is quite certainly of a more advanced character. The Hissarlik metal-work is, in fact, the
product of a halfbarbarous people, and its simple and unambitious character may be discerned
in the preference for such ornamentation as the spiral (a form which is naturally suggested by
the curling of gold wire) and in the infrequent representations of animal forms. An early
though more advanced style is represented by the objects discovered by Schliemann at Mycenae,
which may be approximately assigned to a date not later than B.C. 1000. The Mycenaean objects
are, on the whole, the work of rude local artists, scarcely touched as yet by Oriental
influence. The specimens in gold, which are extremely numerous, consist principally of plaques
in repoussé work, bowls, diadems, and sepulchral masks rudely imitating the human
countenance. Round bosses and other circular patterns, and especially combinations of spirals,
are the basis of most of the patterns, but floral forms and imitations of insects and of
marine life are also employed. Among the most instructive objects may be mentioned the
following:
- 1. Gold diadems found on the heads of corpses. The diadems are generally piped with
copper wire to give them greater solidity.
- 2. Lozenge-shaped buttons of wood plated with gold, ornamented with intaglio and
repoussé work.
- 3. Perforated ornaments of gold with engravings in intaglio.
- 4. Gold cylinder adorned with rock crystal; a dragon of gold with scales of rock
crystal.
- 5. Scabbards of swords, representing a lion-hunt, winged monsters,
fish, and plants. The manes of the lions are of red gold, the bodies of a paler tint in the
same metal. A distinction of colour is also observed between the sea and the fish swimming
in it, and further variety is obtained by the use of enamel in the background.
The next important epoch in the history of our subject has been denominated the
Graeco-Phœnician, an epoch when the rude genius of the Greeks set itself to learn in
the comparatively advanced artistic school of the Phœnicians. This is the period of
art described, though with some poetic embellishment, in the Homeric poems, in which
compositions the higher works of metallic art are spoken of as coming from a foreign and
especially a Phœnician source. Thus it is from the king of Cyprus that Agamemnon
receives the present of his cuirass (
Il. xi. 19), and from Egypt that Menelaüs brings back tripods
and the basket of Helen (
Od. iv. 126 foll.). The crater destined by Menelaüs for
Telemachus comes to him from the king of the Sidonians (
Od. iv. 616;
Il. xxiii. 741), and it is the Sidonians who made the silver crater
given by Achilles as a prize at the Funeral Games. Even the elaborate Homeric description of
the shield of Achilles may be shown to have had a tangible basis in works of
Phœnician art. This Phœnician art, as revealed to us by the
archæological discoveries of recent years, was not in itself original, but was
formed by a curious blending of the art of the Egyptians and the Assyrians. It may best be
studied in the numerous metal bowls that have been found in several localities, especially
Cyprus and Italy, which had in early days relations with the Phœnician traders. The
epoch generally assigned for the execution of these bowls is the seventh or eighth century
B.C., though the manufacture of them according to traditional patterns may have continued to a
later period. In the artistic designs of these vessels it is especially important to note the
arrangement of the subjects in concentric zones, and the frequent mingling of Assyrian and
Egyptian elements. See
Cyprus.
As specimens of early jewelry we may refer to the objects of gold (now in the Louvre and the
British Museum) found by Salzmann at Camirus in Rhodes, which may be regarded as products of
Phœnician art in the eighth century B.C. As an example of these we may take the pale
gold plaques which belonged to a necklace and which are embossed with the alternate designs of
a Centaur of primitive type with Egyptian head-dress, seizing a hind, and a winged female
figure (the goddess Artemis or Anaïtis) holding a lion and a panther. Another plate
is ornamented with a recumbent lion of Assyrian style: the mane is formed by massing together
minute granules of gold, while the ears are marked out by lines formed of similar granules. On
the same plaque is the head of an eagle, adorned, like the lion, with granulated designs. From
the plaque itself are suspended pomegranates, chainlets, and heads of Egyptian style. Of early
jewelry found in Greece proper we may notice the gold studs or ear-rings discovered in 1860 at
Megara: they are decorated in repoussé, with human heads of Egyptian character,
facing. Another interesting specimen of archaic jewelry, stated to have been found at Athens,
and belonging probably to the first half of the sixth century B.C., is an ear-ring
published in the
Journal of Hellenic Studies (vol. ii. p. 324), on the oblong
pendant of which is represented side by side a pair of female figures, beaten out in relief.
The arms of both these figures are straightened closely to their sides, and their dress and
attitude, though very archaic, present a resemblance to the Canephori of the Erechtheum.
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Armlet found at Caeré.
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Our knowledge of the jewelry of the fine period of Greek art is mainly derived from two
great sources—the excavations in the tombs of southern Russia and in those of
Etruria. Of the Etruscan jewelry, the Louvre, the Vatican, and the British Museum possess
numerous and choice examples. The objects from southern Russia, which belong to a great extent
to the fourth century B.C., are now in the Museum of the Hermitage, and may be studied in the
elaborate
Comptes Rendus de la Commission Archéologique de
St.-Pétersbourg, and in the
Antiquités du Bosphore Cimmérien. The great European
jewel-collections contain specimens, unrivalled in workmanship, of all the various objects of
personal adornment—necklaces with pendants, ear-rings, bracelets, brooches, etc. The
main effect in this jewelry is due to the combination of small figures and flowers in
repoussé work, with fine filigree, grannlated patterns, and vitreous inlays.
Precious stones, such as garnets, are sometimes introduced, but in the best age the jeweller
made comparatively little use of them. The ancient jeweller is distinguished by his delicate
manipulation of the gold, his mastery of modelling, his extraordinary minuteness of work, and
by the technical skill which produced the granulation (i.e. the soldering of extremely minute
particles of gold on a leaf of gold) which is especially noticeable in the jewelry of Etruria.
This Etruscan jewelry in its earlier period betrays an Oriental influence, but is in its later
and finest stage so thoroughly Greek in character as to be a fair exponent of the capabilities
of the Greek jewellers. For details as to the form of the various objects of personal
ornament, the reader is referred to the separate articles in this dictionary; but as
furnishing a sample of the fertile invention and surpassing skill of the Greek workman, we may
here refer to two classes of ear-rings, of which there are good specimens in the GoldOrnament
Room of the British Museum. The first
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Etruscan Necklace from Tarentum (B.C. 600). (In the Castellani Collection, British
Museum.)
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class, which is the simpler and perhaps somewhat the earlier in date, consists of
ear-rings formed of twisted wire and terminating at one end in the head of an animal,
especially a lion. The second class consists of the specimens attached to the ear by a hook,
which is covered by a round disk. The disk itself is generally adorned with some subject
suitable for a medallion, such as a full face in relief, and beneath it are suspended one or
more small figures. For these pendants Victories are often chosen, and an especial favourite
is a tiny figure of Eros holding various objects, such as a scroll or a musical instrument. As
exquisite specimens may be noticed a pair (
Comptes Rendus de la Comm. Arch. de
St.Pétersb., 1870-71, pl. vi., figs. 11, 12) composed of a rosette, from
which hang three chains, the two outermost terminating in pendants: from the middle chain
hangs a goose, inlaid about the feathers with granulated work. In the centre of the rosette is
a garnet, from which radiate leaves in blue enamel, forming a star pattern.
The beautiful gold necklace shown in the illustration given below forms part of the
Castellani Collection in the British Museum. It consists of a circlet of roses bearing
alternate pendants of vases and female heads, all exquisitely modelled. The roses are each
composed of three rosettes of diminishing sizes superimposed. Of the pendants, the centre head
is simply that of a beautiful girl, while the two on each side of it have cows' horns and
ears, and represent Io, who was changed by Zeus into a cow.
A very fine specimen of jewelry not intended for wear is the votive gold crown found at
Armento, and now at Munich. It is composed of branches of oak intertwined with garlands of
flowers, while winged figures are placed amid the foliage.
Another important branch of the toreutic art is constituted by the production of gold and
silver vases, elaborately adorned—generally with reliefs in repoussé, or
with ornaments separately made and soldered or riveted to the vessel. (See
Crusta;
Emblema; and cf.
Plin. H. N. xxxiii.
139, etc.; Ovid,
Metam. iii. 5,
v. 80;
Juv.i. 76; Quintil. xi. 47.) With the increase of luxury under the
successors of Alexander, this branch of art began to assume especial prominence. (Cf.
Athenaeus, v. 29, 30;
Plin. H. N. xxxiii.
154, etc.) Among the more important vessels in the precious metals now extant should be
mentioned the following:
- 1. The magnificent silver vase in the Hermitage Museum, which was found in the tomb of
a Scythian king at Nicopolis. It has the form of an amphora, and on its upper part are
friezes of Scythians and animals, in high-relief; leaves and flowers adorning the body of
the vessel. The decoration is partly in repoussé, and partly consists in
ornaments, like the lion-masks and the head of a winged horse, separately made and gilded
and then soldered on. This vase has been assigned to the fourth century B.C.
- 2. Silver vase in the Antiquarium of Munich, ornamented externally with a circular
frieze, in which are represented Trojan captives, in low relief.
- 3. The Corsini vase, on which see the memoir by Michaelis, Das Corsinische
Silbergefäss.
- 4. Specimens in the Berlin Museum from the silver treasure found near Hildesheim
(Hanover) in 1885, some of which go back to the time of Augustus or earlier. They have much
executional merit, but present the Roman characteristics of exuberant ornament and
exaggerated
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Roman Mixing-bowl. (Found at Hildesheim; now in Berlin Museum.)
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relief.
- 5. Specimens in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, from the treasure
discovered at Bernay in France. The vases are of varying merit, and differ in
date—one class being ornamented in very prominent repoussé, the other
in lower relief with slight and delicate lines.
- 6. The gold patera of Rennes, into which are inserted gold coins ranging from Hadrian
to Geta. The bottom of the vase is adorned with a large medallion executed in
repoussé, and bordered by a wreath of laurel leaves in low-relief.
- 7. Silver vases found at Pompeii, and now in the Museum at Naples. This list may be
concluded with a reference to the specimens in the celebrated silver treasure discovered at
Rome in 1793, and now in the British Museum. It consists of caskets, vases, trappings, and
ornaments of silver, and was probably executed for the most part about the end of the fifth
century A.D. The figures and ornaments on most of the objects are generally embossed and
chased, and gilding is applied to the salient parts. The figures, as might be expected at so
late a period, are coarsely executed and of clumsy proportions.
To the examples of ornamental metal-work which have now been mentioned in this article, and
which are principally in gold and silver, must be added certain specimens in bronze which are
adorned
- 1. with engraved designs,
- 2. with figures in relief.
A remarkable specimen of archaic Greek engraving is found on the bronze cuirass
discovered in the bed of the Alpheus, and photographed in the
Bulletin de Corr.
Hell. (1883), p. 1, pl. i.-iii. Besides figures of animals, the design shows
a group of six human figures. Engraved designs occur most frequently upon the circular metal
disks used as mirrors by the ancients, the largest class of which comes from Etruria. Though
on some of the Etruscan mirrors the drawings are of a masterly character, the greater number
are executed loosely and without much regard to beauty of composition. See
Speculum.
The covers of the mirrors of box-like form— mostly found in Greece
proper—offer favourable specimens of reliefs executed in bronze. Several of them
belong to a good period of Greek art; their subjects, as a rule, are borrowed from the cycles
of Aphrodité and of Dionysus. Fine examples of Greek repoussé work in
bronze are also to be seen in the plaques with figures in relief, which once served to
ornament armour or other objects.
Engravings on mirrors of purely Greek work are rare. Among the most beautiful examples may
be cited the mirror representing the Genius of the Cock Fights (Musée de Lyon), and
the specimen with the hero Corinthus crowned by a woman who personifies the Corinthian colony
of Leucas.
Bibliography.—
Schliemann, Mycenae
(1878);
Milchhöfer, Die Anfänge der Kunst in
Griechenland (1883);
Brunn, Die Kunst bei Homer
(1859);
Clermont-Ganneau, L'Imagerie Phénicienne
(1880); Di
Cesnola, Cyprus (1877);
Calonna-Ceccaldi,
Monuments Ant. de Chypre (1882);
Dennis, Cities and
Cemeteries of Etruria (1878);
Castellani, Dell' Oreficeria
Italiana (1872);
Bucher, Geschichte der technischen
Künste (1880);
Newton, Essays on Art and
Archœology (1883); De
Linas, Les Origines de
l'Orfévrerie Cloisonnée (1879);
King,
Handbook of Engraved Gems (1866); id.
Antique Gems and
Rings (1872);
Martha, L'Art Etrusque (1888);
Beulé, L'Art Grec avant Périclés
(1870). See also a valuable paper on
Ancient Gold Work, by Mr.
Humphreys-Davenport, in
Harper's Magazine for July, 1892; and the articles
Aes;
Argentum;
Aurum;
Crusta.
