Jewelry (κόσμος, lit. “ornament”). Byzantine  jewelry continued Greco-Roman traditions but was also influenced by Eastern decorative and nonfigural types, with an admixture of local elements wherever in the empire it was produced. The forms of objects made by jewelers in Rome, Constantinople, Athens, Antioch, or Alexandria thus varied considerably. Byz. jewelry may generally be distinguished by its extensive use of color, usually achieved with gems or enamels.

In his preface to the best-known medieval handbook on artistic technique, the Western monk Theophilus (ca.1110–40) specifically associates color with the Greeks. This 12th-C. notice is late witness to a tradition reverting to the 3rd or 4th C., when niello seems first to have been applied to gold and silver. But the association of gems and ornament with Byz. in the Western mind persisted at least down to the time when German envoys to Constantinople in 1196 pointed out that they were not “worshipers of ornaments and garments secured by brooches suited only for women” (Nik.Chon. 477.82–83).

Our knowledge of Byz. jewelry comes from examples found in treasures, accounts of items that have not survived, and illustrations in mosaics, painting, textiles, metalwork, and MS illumination. The procession of female saints in the mosaics of S. Apollinare Nuovo, Ravenna, shows matching sets of hair ornament, earrings, necklace, bracelet, rings, and belt fittings. Gold plaques and gems were sewn on clothing, and antique coins were incorporated into other items of personal adornment. The importance of precious stones is indicated by their frequent imitation in the borders of miniatures in MSS and on mosaic pavements and wall panels as much as by the jeweled walls in depictions of the heavenly cities of Bethlehem and Jerusalem, and gemencrusted thrones, crosses, liturgical vessels, and book covers.

Byz. jewelry is further characterized by the extensive use of Christian iconography and sacred objects, worn thus for protection as well as ornament. These pieces could incorporate an inscription or symbol, an image, a cross or Christogram, or be carried in an enkolpion, an invention of the Byz. Jewelry was not only an outward symbol of faith or wealth but also served as a badge of office. Special Fibulae, rings, and belt buckles, awarded by the emperor and often inscribed, indicated status within the civil service or the army. Belisarios rewarded his soldiers with armbands and torques (Prokopios, Wars 7.1.8). Jewelry was also made to adorn and protect animals. Floor mosaics show race horses wearing jeweled trappings and hunting dogs with gem-studded collars. Apotropaic devices (e.g., ivy leaf, swastika, sunburst, crescent) as well as Christian symbols decorate charms and amulets worn by animals.

A great variety of techniques was used in the manufacture of jewelry. Gemstones were mainly polished. They might then be drilled and/or carved as a cameo or engraved as a seal. Metal might be cast or worked in repoussé, then have added niello, enamel, or engraving, or be cut into opus interrasile. It could also be made into a simple wire, which was worked as filigree or drawn through successively smaller holes in a wooden or metal board. This wire was used in fine gold work and incorporated into textiles.

While members of the imperial court adorned themselves with crowns, necklaces, great ropes of pearls, and large gems, ordinary people also had access to the work of jewelers. Their products, known from archaeological excavation, were usually made of gilded bronze imitating gold or had colored glass paste simulating gems in rings and earrings. Bracelets in this category tend to be fairly plain; there are surprisingly few traces of necklaces, with the exception of fragments of chain and ornaments, such as amulets or crosses, that may have been suspended on the chain. Glass bracelets—a form of jewelry probably invented for the mass market in Roman times or intended as a substitute for ivory or precious metal—are found in large numbers, sometimes in contexts that suggest local manufacture.

Because of the mixture of styles in many pieces, dating is often hard to establish. Gems were often set into a new ring or even recarved. Antique coins included in jewelry provide only a terminus post quem for dating. An inscription on an item often helps, as may controlled excavation. Representations of jewelry in datable works of art can also provide a base for comparison.

In very broad, general terms, the evolution of Byz. jewelry was from simple to complex, from light to heavy, from small to large, but these criteria must be applied with care. Earrings started out in the 4th C. as simple hoops and, by the 10th–12th C., were open filigree work with multiple projections in a three-dimensional form. They were complex but light. Bracelets changed from narrow, solid, or cutwork bands to wide, hinged bands, sometimes worked in repoussé. Necklaces developed from simple chains or strands of beads, made of polished and drilled stones and pearls, to more complex forms with multiple hanging elements. Early gold and silver gem-mounts were made in an openwork technique; by the 11th–12th C. they were solid and rather heavy in appearance. In all cases, however, the combination of influences listed above must be studied along with techniques used in cutting stones by wheel or burin, types of enamel, working of metal (e.g., cast, opus interrasile, granulation), and methods of working links in a chain. The study of this technology is still at a very early stage. When sufficient context is lacking, as is often the case with “mass-produced” work—the so-called costume jewelry of gilded bronze and glass—one can only try to fit such pieces as far as possible into this general typology.

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