Diptych with nativity and adoration, silver and niello, engraved and gilded, copper alloy frame, Paris, c. 1500, The Cloisters

“Minden Cross” in niello technique, appr. The Cloisters is the branch of the Metropolitan Museum of Art dedicated to the art and architecture of the European Middle Ages. Minden is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is the capital of the district of Minden-Lübbecke. AD 1070 or 1120

Niello is a black metallic alloy of sulfur, copper, silver, and usually lead, used as an inlay on engraved metal. An alloy is a Solid solution or Homogeneous mixture of two or more elements, at least one of which is a Metal, which itself has Sulfur or sulphur (ˈsʌlfɚ see spelling below) is the Chemical element that has the Atomic number 16 Copper (ˈkɒpɚ is a Chemical element with the symbol Cu (cuprum and Atomic number 29 Silver (ˈsɪlvɚ is a Chemical element with the symbol " Ag " (argentum from the Ancient Greek: ἀργήντος - argēntos gen Characteristics Lead has a dull luster and is a dense, Ductile, very soft highly It can be used for filling in designs cut from metal. The Egyptians are credited with originating niello decoration, which spread throughout Europe during the Middle Ages. Ancient Egypt was an Ancient Civilization in eastern North Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now

Renaissance niello

The goldsmiths of Florence in the middle of the 15th century ornamented their works by means of engraving the metal with a burin, after which they filled up the hollows produced by the burin with a black enamel made of silver, lead and sulfur. Burin from the French burin meaning "cold Chisel " has two specialised meanings for types of tools in English one meaning a Steel The resulting design, called a niello, was much of higher contrast and thus much more visible.

Thai jewellery

Nielloware jewellery from Thailand was a popular gift from American soldiers stationed there to their girlfriends/wives back home from the 1920s to the 1970s. The Kingdom of Thailand (ˈtaɪlænd ราชอาณาจักรไทย, râːtɕʰa-ʔaːnaːtɕɑ̀k-tʰɑj Most of it was completely handmade jewelry. Handmade jewelry is Jewelry which has been assembled and formed by hand rather than through the use of machines

The technique is as follows: The artisan would carve a particular character or pattern into the silver, leaving the figure raised by carving out the "background". He would then use the niello inlay to fill in the "background". After being baked in an open fire, the alloy would harden. It would then be sanded smooth and buffed. Finally, a silver artisan would add minute details by hand. Filigree was often used for additional ornamentation. Filigree (formerly written filigrann or filigrane; also known as telkari, the name given in Anatolia, meaning "wire work" Nielloware is classified as only being black and silver colored. Other colored jewelry originating during this time uses a different technique and is not considered niello.

Many of the characters shown in nielloware are characters in the Hindu legend Ramayama. A Hindu ( Devanagari: हिन्दू is an adherent of the philosophies and scriptures of Hinduism, a set of religious, Philosophical Important Thai cultural symbols were also frequently used.

Although there is not much commercial value to nielloware jewellery, they are wonderful keepsakes and often hold sentimental value. They are easy to match and provide interesting conversation pieces.

Common nielloware pieces include: necklaces, bracelets, brooches, tie bands, rings, earrings, pendants, buttons, and snuffboxes.

Kievan Rus

During the 10th to 13th century A. D. Kievan Rus craftsmen possessed a higher degree of skill in jewelry making than craftsmen elsewhere in the world. Kievan Rus′ (Ки́евская Русь romanised: Kievskaya Rus', rusʲ also written as Kyivan Rus′ (Ки́ївська Русь or Kievan Through the perfected use of techniques including hot working of iron, wax and stone molds, inlay with niello and cloisonné enamel, the works of Kievan Rus craftsmen had no equal in the world market during that time period. Cloisonné, an ancient Metalworking technique is a multi-step enamel process used to produce Jewelry, Vases and other decorative items John Tsetses, a 12th century Byzantine writer praised the work of Kievan Rus craftsmen and likened their work to the creations of Daedalus, the highly skilled craftsman from Greek Mythology. This article is about the mythological character For other uses see Daedalus (disambiguation. Greek mythology is the body of stories belonging to the ancient Greeks concerning their gods and Heroes the nature of the world and the origins and significance

Niello was used on a variety of object including sword hilts, chalices, plates, horns, adornment for horses, and most prolifically, jewelry for women: necklaces, bracelets, rings, torques, pendants, buttons, belt buckles, headdresses, etc.

The Kievan Rus technique for niello application was first shaping silver or gold by repousse, embossing, and casting. Repoussé (ʀəpuse)or repoussage ʀəpusaʒ is a Metalworking technique in which a Malleable Metal They would high relief objects and fill the background with niello using a mixture of red copper, lead, silver, potash, borax, sulfur which was liquefied and poured into concaved surfaces before being baked in a furnace. Alto-relievo is translated from Italian as high-relief, a technique in Classical antiquity sculpture to reveal human or animal figures that project out from a The heat from the furnace would blacken the niello and allow other ornamentation to stand out more vividly.

Nielloed items were mass produced using molds that still survive today and were traded with Greeks, the Byzantine Empire, and other peoples that traded along the trade route from the Varangians to the Greeks. The Greeks ( Greek: Έλληνες) are a Nation and Ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighbouring regions The trade route from the Varangians to the Greeks (Путь «из варяг в греки» Put iz varyag v greki) was a Trade route, which connected Scandinavia

During the Mongol invasion from 1237 to 1240 A. D. the whole of Kievan Rus was overrun and villages and workshops were burned and razed to the ground and most of the craftsmen and artisans were killed. Afterwards skill in niello and cloisonné enamel diminshed greatly.

The Ukrainian Museum of Historic Treasures, located in Kiev, has a large collection of nielloed items mostly recovered from tombs found throughout Ukraine. Kiev, also known as Kyiv ( Ukrainian:, Kyiv, ˈkɪjiw Russian:, Kiyev; see also Cities' alternative names) is the Ukraine (Україна Ukrayina, /ukrɑˈjinɑ/ is a country in Eastern Europe.

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External links

• [1] The Siam Sterling Nielloware Site
• Nielloware in Thailand Niello information site.

See also

History of jewellery in Ukraine

Further reading

Ganina, O. Jewellery, as one of the Art forms originated together with the human Culture as one of its expressions (1974), The Kiev museum of historic treasures (A. Bilenko, Trans. ). Kiev, Ukraine: Mistetstvo Publishers.

References