Jewelers Of Italy

(via 5000 Years of Gems and Jewelry) Frances Rogers and Alice Beard writes:

7. Decline Of The Glyptic Art

Scarcely more than one hundred years after the death of Pliny the Roman Empire was well on its way to the final crash. The arts, including glyptic art, were keeping pace downhill with the falling Empire.

Not that there was any lack of demand for engraved gems; wealthy Romans were spending exorbitant sums for them. But interest was centered not on excellence of design or technique but on the mystic significance and magical powers of the symbols engraved on the ring stones and beads. The rich man was not buying art. He was buying magic. In consequence, the work of the gem engraver grew careless and indifferent; speed in engraving the symbols was of more importance than quality of workmanship.

An uneasy sense of impending doom has a tendency to drive us, groping for escape, toward realms supernatural. The crystal-gazer and the astrologer did a thriving business in fortune-telling and prophecy. Zodiacal symbols invoking the influences of the stars were considered particularly potent. All classes, rich and poor, wore amulets of one sort or another.

In early times, what we call the ‘rank materialist’ was almost non-existent. Practically everybody believed in one or another of the many forms of superstition then current. Nevertheless there were those who craved some semblance at least of reasonable basis for belief.

There came into being a cult known as ‘Gnosticism,’ which means, knowledge of spiritual mysteries. The Gnostics believed that originally all things of the terrestrial and celestial universe had been created in an orderly harmony, that this true order had been destroyed but eventually would be restored. They sought control of occult influences through knowledge of the mystic powers of numbers, words, substances, and forms. In their quest for omniscience they impartially embraced mythology, both Greek and Oriental, the Christian and Jewish religions, philosophy, magic and as much science as was available.

Gnosticism spread fast and far. Naturally it was bound to find reflection in gems and the demand for stones engraved with the magic symbols of the Gnostics grew to such proportions that whole factories were devoted to their production. A favorite device was an image called Abraxas. The figure has the head of a cock, the body of a man, and legs which are serpents. In one hand is a shield and in the other a whip. So involved is the significance of any Gnostic symbol that authorities differ as to its meanings and we shall not attempt to unravel them here.

But to return to what was happening concerning gems in general. Silks and spices from China, furs from the forests of Scythia, and jewels from all parts of the Orient were eagerly bought up by the Romans. Says Gibbons: ‘The most remote countries of the ancient world were ransacked to supply the pomp and delicacy of Rome. Amber was brought overland from the shores of the Baltic to the Danube, and the barbarians were astonished at the price they received for so useless a commodity.’

Presently hordes of the barbarians from the North were themselves gravitating toward the Mediterranean, plundering as they went, and living on the country.

With the first great waves of Germanic tribes that swept the Roman Empire in the third century, there began a curious intermingling of the peoples of Europe which had a direct effect on all the arts of the time. And during the next few hundred years, owing to the diversity of influences brought about by warring nations and conflicting religions, the whole character of jewelry underwent a change.

Jewelers Of Italy (continued)