{"id":5944,"date":"2019-02-19T08:00:01","date_gmt":"2019-02-19T08:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.covetfoundation.com\/events\/?p=5944"},"modified":"2020-01-19T19:58:12","modified_gmt":"2020-01-19T19:58:12","slug":"the-secrets-of-the-precious-filigree-art-origin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.covetfoundation.com\/events\/the-secrets-of-the-precious-filigree-art-origin\/","title":{"rendered":"The Secrets of the Precious Filigree Art: Origin"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Filigree<\/strong><\/em> is one of the most delicate<\/strong> types of jewelry metalwork<\/strong>, which generally uses precious metals<\/strong>, like gold<\/strong> and silver<\/strong>, in art pieces created with small and detailed beads<\/strong> and twisted threads<\/strong> fused together or onto an object. It is ideal for arabesque designs. Its fragility often makes us remember the texture of lace<\/strong>. Traditionally, this technique is connected to luxury design<\/strong> and fine craftsmanship<\/strong>. Humans always tried to exhibit their wealth and status, soon they discovered that the shining gold was the perfect medium for it.<\/p>\n

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Filigree Rosette Bangle by Arabel Lebrusan. Photo: \u00a9Not on the High Street<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

This ancient technique<\/strong> creates artworks with the finest beauty<\/strong>, often giving us the impression of being made with lace. Nowadays, it remains popular in India<\/strong> and Asia<\/strong>. In the past, it was common in Italy<\/strong>, France<\/strong> and Portugal<\/strong>, from 1660 to the late 19th century. In that time, filigree became very popular in the French fashion<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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Gold Pocket Watch from the 17th century. Photo: \u00a9Antique Watch<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Gold Pocket Watch from the 17th century. Photo: \u00a9Antique Watch<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Its name, \u201cfiligree\u201d<\/em>, derives from the union of the Latin \u201cfilum\u201d<\/em>, which means \u201cthread\u201d<\/em>, with \u201cgranum\u201d<\/em>, which means small bead. Filigrana<\/em> is the Italian name for this art, while filigrane<\/em> the French one. Not only filigree is still a wonderful and renowned jewelry technique<\/strong> in contemporary design<\/strong>, it was always, since ancient times, a key part of the art pieces made by the jewelers<\/strong>, as we can see in the masterpieces created by the Etruscans<\/strong> and the Greeks<\/strong>. From the 6th to the 3rd century B.C., it is said that filigree reached perfection.<\/p>\n

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Photo: \u00a9Cell Code<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Filigree has its origin in Mesopotamia<\/strong> and Egypt<\/strong>. From Asia it was exported to Europe. Thanks to archaeology we could find evidence in ancient Mesopotamia relics<\/strong> that filigree is incorporated into jewelry since 3.000 B.C. There was even a special form of filigree in Midvat (Mardin Province, Mesopotamia), that used silver and gold wires. This technique was called \u201ctelkari\u201d<\/em> and it is still used by local craftsmen<\/strong> until this day.<\/p>\n

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Jewelry art piece made with the Telkari technique. Photo: \u00a9Midyat Nurtas Gumus<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

One of filigree\u2019s most popular ways of decoration, the granulated work, created with tiny breads<\/strong> and globules of gold soldered to form patterns<\/strong> on a metal surface, was applied by Mesopotamian craftsmen, but Sumerians were probably the first ones to practice this technique of metalwork<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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Mirror\u2019s Detail. Photo: \u00a9Boca do Lobo<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Egyptian jewelers<\/strong> also worked with wire. However, they were only interested in precious metal chains<\/strong>, filigree art<\/strong> was not very popular among them, it was rare. Examples of round plaited gold chains of fine wire, similar to those made today in India, can still be seen around the world and are known as trichinopoly chains. These chains are often decorated with tiny fishes and other detailed ornaments.<\/p>\n

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Bracelet with Egyptian Panels made in silver. Photo: \u00a9Property Room<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The filigree designs from India and central Asia seem to be the most ancient<\/strong> ones and survived until today without any major changes. It is unsure if the Asian jewelers<\/strong> were influenced by the Greeks<\/strong> that came to their continent or if they were trained by them, but the truth is that Indian filigree<\/strong> artworks use the same patterns as the ones from the ancient Greeks and exactly the same techniques.<\/p>\n

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Indian Betel Leaf Tray. Photo: \u00a9Michael Backman<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The filigree workers<\/strong> were itinerant, they tried to find gold, coined or rough. Then, they weighed it, heated it in a pan of charcoal, compressed into wire and finally worked according to the designs of the master artisan<\/strong>. In the end, the final product was weighted, and the artists received their payment.<\/p>\n

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Gold and Handmade Flower Earrings. Photo: \u00a9Novica<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The fine grains, beads and spines of gold, barely with the thickness of a hair, were utilized and still appear in contemporary designs<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Tarakashi<\/em> is a traditional filigree<\/strong> work created in Cuttack, from the eastern Indian state Odisha<\/strong>. These art pieces often used the images of the divine as inspiration and today are disappearing due to lack of support. The Silver Filigree<\/strong> of Karimnagar<\/strong> in Telangana state is going through the same path.<\/p>\n

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Master Artisan dedicated to the Takarashi technique. Photo: \u00a9Ar Shakti Nanda<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

In Bengal, the karigars<\/strong>, revered by being the best makers<\/strong> of jewelry, are a huge part of the countries\u2019 culture. Nowadays, the Indian jewelry<\/strong> industry is inspired by the Odisha\u2019s heritage<\/strong>. Gold filigree<\/strong> figures are still shining brightly, an average 200 kilos of gold per day is crafted by the artisans. Jewelry from India is desired by other countries, including Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iran and Iraq. Today, Bengal<\/strong> is the center of this art and craft<\/strong> in India. Gold filigree is still very popular, probably thanks to its cost-efficiency, its design and its detailed craftsmanship<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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Takarashi Purse. Photo: \u00a9Jewellery India<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

In Odisha, master artisans usually work with silver and focus only on handmade<\/strong> production. The influence of the filigree craft<\/strong> and design was also crucial in the gold designs of places like Gujarat and South India. Diamond<\/strong> and gem jewelry<\/strong> are rising, but filigree remains as a favorite.<\/p>\n

Stay with us to find out more about this breathtaking ancient art<\/strong> all around the world.<\/p>\n

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Reliquary made of silver and gold plated. Photo: \u00a9Holyart<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Filigree and Azulejos Heritage at Homo Faber<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Filigree is one of the most delicate types of jewelry metalwork, which generally uses precious metals, like gold and silver, in art pieces created with small and detailed beads and twisted threads fused together or onto an object. It is…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":5971,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,4],"tags":[116,1676,2027,2143,2891,2876,2902,152,525,11,2905,2885,2888,2882,25,2881,26,2889,2903,2893,2224,2879,2880,2904,1016,2901,2883,2042,15,13,2877,2892,2899,2878,2590,2294,2873,2871,39,2898,2897,2874,833,16,515,2884,2890,534,2900,21,2872,2886,1015,2896,2894,2887,2875,2895],"class_list":["post-5944","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-crafts","category-makers","tag-ancient-art","tag-ancient-technique","tag-art-and-craft","tag-asia","tag-asian-jewelers","tag-bead","tag-bengal","tag-contemporary-design","tag-craftsman","tag-craftsmanship","tag-diamond-jewelry","tag-egypt","tag-egyptian-jewelers","tag-etruscans","tag-filigrana","tag-filigrane","tag-filigree","tag-filigree-art","tag-filigree-craft","tag-filigree-workers","tag-fine-craftsmanship","tag-france","tag-french-fashion","tag-gem-jewelry","tag-gold","tag-gold-filigree","tag-greeks","tag-hand-craft","tag-handmade","tag-heritage","tag-india","tag-indian-filigree","tag-indian-jewelry","tag-italy","tag-jewelers","tag-jewelry","tag-jewelry-design","tag-jewelry-metalwork","tag-jewelry-technique","tag-karigars","tag-karimnagar","tag-lace","tag-luxury-design","tag-makers","tag-master-artisan","tag-mesopotamia","tag-metal-chains","tag-metalwork","tag-odisha","tag-portugal","tag-precious-metals","tag-relics","tag-silver","tag-silver-filigree","tag-tarakashi","tag-telkari","tag-thread","tag-traditional-filigree"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.covetfoundation.com\/events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5944","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.covetfoundation.com\/events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.covetfoundation.com\/events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.covetfoundation.com\/events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.covetfoundation.com\/events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5944"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.covetfoundation.com\/events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5944\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12786,"href":"https:\/\/www.covetfoundation.com\/events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5944\/revisions\/12786"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.covetfoundation.com\/events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5971"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.covetfoundation.com\/events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5944"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.covetfoundation.com\/events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5944"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.covetfoundation.com\/events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5944"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}