Toreutics

The term toreutics, relatively rarely used in English, refers to artistic metalworkingHow to Understand Sculpture by Margaret Thomas, Kessinger Publishing, 2005, p. 25. – hammering gold or silver (or other materials), engraving, or using repoussé and chasing to form minute detailed reliefs or small engraved patterns.Hutchinson Encyclopaedia. Helicon Publishing LTD 2007. Toreutics can include metal-engraving – forward-pressure linear metal removal with a burin.

Toreutics is extremely ancient, and depending on the metal used will survive burial for periods of centuries better than art in many other materials. Conversely if above ground it was likely to be melted down and the metal reused. Until the Middle Ages it was also among the art forms with the highest prestige.

Archeological background It was practised in the Bronze Age and was well established centuries before the shaft graves. Toureutic items of special quality from the Iron Age are the Certosa situla from Italy and from Slovenia the Vače situla and the Vače belt-plate. Toreutics flourished to an unusual degree among the peoples of Asia Minor, Assyria, Babylon, and passed from thence to ancient Persia.Gershevitch, I., The Cambridge History of Iran (1985) p. 154. One spectacular example of the direct influence of Persia in toreutics is believed to be the Treasure of Nagyszentmiklós found in Transylvania in 1799, and considered to be work of Old BulgarianCrampton, R. J., A Short History of Modern Bulgaria, Cambridge University Press, 1987. gold smiths. It consists of 23 vessels and has been attributed to Attila's Huns, the AvarsHildinger, Erik, Warriors of the Steppe, Da Capo Press, 1997, pp. 57–92. . and Pechenegs. The majority of scholars however, consider it Bulgarian (Proto-Bulgarians,Dimitrov, Dimiter P., Bulgaria – Land of Ancient Civilizations, Foreign Language Press, Sofia 1961, p. 33. Bulgars), because of its runic inscriptions.

Etymology Toreutics comes from Greek "τορεύς" which means "borer, piercerer". As is so commonplace in Greek, there is also an associated adjective, i.e. "τορευτικός" which means "of or for metal work". In both cases the root is the verb "τορεύω" which means "to work in relief";Sallust, Conspiracy of Catiline and the Jurgurthine War, (2004/6) p. 62/72. to work in relief. As Ancient Greek extends back to the Proto-Indo-Germanic language in which the root is* which describes the art of working metal or other materials by the use of embossing and chasing to form minute detailed reliefs. The origin of the use of toreutics in the English language goes back to 1830–40; < Gk , equiv. to 'to bore, chase, emboss' (v. deriv. of graving tool) -tikos.

Applications Greek style,Sideris, A., "Les tombes de Derveni. Quelques remarques sur la toreutique", Revue Archéologique (2000), pp. 3-36. . . Inscriptions on toreuticsSideris, A., "Bronze Drinking Vases Bearing Dedicatory Inscriptions", Eirene 38, 2002, pp. 167-201. Achaemenid–Persian–SassanidMiller, Margaret C., Athens and Persia in the Fifth Century BC: A Study in Cultural Receptivity, (2004) p. 59. Sideris, A. "Achaemenid Toreutics in the Greek Periphery", in Darabandi S. M. R. and A. Zournantzi (eds.), Ancient Greece and Ancient Iran. Cross-Cultural Encounters, Athens 2008, pp. 339-353. . style, Christian toreutics,Renan, Ernest, The history of the origins of Christianity: Volume 3, (2007) p. 95. Folk craftsmanship, Bulgaria Beaten copperGaston, Mary Frank. Antique Brass & Copper Identification & Value Guide, (1991) p. 19. . (Tibet) Tsuba gold toreutics (1860) Mito school.

Toreutics

Bron en licentie