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Authentic Ancient Byzantine Rings - History
Bronze Byzantine Jewellery
Byzantine jewelry is characterized by the same love of luxury and precious materials as that of ancient times
The Byzantine emperors and nobles were famed for the precious jewellery they possessed or presented as gifts.
Centres of jewellery production were not only the capitál Constantinople but also provinces such as Syria, which had a long tradition in this art.
See our current collection of Bronze Byzantine Jewelry here and our Byzantine Silver Rings here
The jewellery-making techniques, such us engraving and embossing, filigree, granulation, enamelling were virtually the same as those used in antiquity. However the Byzantine Empire's direct contact with the East led to the adoption of new methods of decoration. One of the distinctive traits of Byzantine jewellery is the lavish use of precious stones. Pearls from the Persian Gulf, emeralds from Egypt and India, sapphires from Ceylon were brought to the Empire to embellish valuable objects.
Another method of decoration which is of oriental origin and was frequently used by Byzantine jewellers is niello. Though niello was known in the Mycenaean period it was subsequently forgotten, to reappear on Roman objects. the decorative effect is based on the contrast created between the colour of the ground metal and the dark motifs. It can be applied to gold, silver and bronze Pierced and cut-out decoration (opus interrasile), that appears in many pieces of Byzantine jewellery, also has eastern roots. It is usually applied on cast plaques: the decoration was first drawn on the metal and then selected parts were removed with different drills and saws, creating perforated designs reminiscent of lacework.
Although Byzantine jewellery represents a continuation of the Roman tradition, its own principles and parameters are evident by the 4th century, and it swiftly adapted to the new tastes of its period and space. Rejecting the weight of solid gold, and preferring instead fine, light gold leaf, it created new forms, evolved, and was transmuted into a delicate, refined art embellished with precious and semiprecious stones, surpassing the use of this decoration already familiar from Roman jewellery.
From the beginning to the end of the Byzantine empire, jewellery was highly valued by high-ranking officials at the Byzantine court, whose signet-rings were decorated with ingenious, complicated monograms, and even more so by wealthy Byzantine ladies, who never ceased to adore it. A sign of economic prosperity, it invariably adorns the necks, hair, wrists and expressive fingers of the female figures depicted in monumental mosaics and other works of art. The Byzantines' special appreciation and love of expensive, refined jewellery, attested both by the literary sources and by art, seems to have been intensified not only by women's interest in their appearance, but also by men's desire to show off their wealth.
The Cross
Scarcely any object was as ubiquitous in Byzantine culture as the cross. As the symbol of Christ's Passion and ultimate victory over death, the cross is the essential sign of the Christian faith.
Yet, the cult of the cross did not flourish until the fourth century. Many years later it was decreed that the image of the cross should not be limited to churches and liturgical objects, but that it should be found also in jewelry..