CAELATU´RA
CAELATU´RA (τορευτική). The words τορευτικὴ and caelatura, derived respectively from τορεὺς and caelum (lit. “graver's tool” ), seem, on the whole, to be synonymous in their import, and signify in a general sense the arts employed in the production of ornamental works in metal, whether in relief or in intaglio. These terms therefore include such processes as repoussé, chasing, engraving, and other operations employed by the ancient artist, whether in jewellers' and goldsmiths' work, or in the application of the non-precious metals (especially bronze) to the purposes of ornamenting different objects, such as armour, mirrors, &c. The terms are strictly and commonly confined to works in metal, though we occasionally find the expression caelatura used, by analogy, of work in stone and in other non-metallic substances. One important branch of metal-work, that of statuary, is not, however, comprehended under τορευτικὴ and caelatura [STATUARIA ARS], though it may be observed that many of the bronze statuettes which have come down to us from antiquity are really only the detached ornaments of different household utensils, such as mirrors and candelabra. (O. Müller, Handbuch der Archäol. (ed. Welcker), § § 85, 120, 173, 311, 312; Saglio, art. Caelatura, note 2, in Daremberg and Saglio, Dict. des Ant.; Marquardt, Römische Privatalterthümer (Marquardt and Mommsen, 1882, vol. vii., p. 664).)The ancient literary sources for the history of ornamental metal work are somewhat scanty. The chief passage recording the names of Toreutic artists is Pliny, Plin. Nat. 33. § § 154-157, in which reference is made to various toreuticians eminent especially for working in silver. This list includes names which appear to range in date from about B.C. 420 or 400 to the time of Nero; the most famous artist mentioned being Mentor, who lived not later than B.C. 356. Other artists of whom we possess some record in the authors belong to the age of Alexander the Great, to the period of the Diadochi, to the time of Pompey, and to the earlier days of the Roman empire. A complete list of the passages in the ancient writers which refer to toreutic artists will be found in Overbeck's Antiken Schriftquellen, under the head “Toreutik” (pp. 417-425); compare also Brunn, Gesch. der griech. Künstler, ii. pp. 397-412 ( “Die Toreuten” ). It is, however, [p. 1.324]from the metallic objects actually extant in the jewel rooms and bronze rooms of great museums that the history of the toreutic art can best be learnt, and the present article will therefore treat principally of some of the more important classes of these monuments, so far as this is possible within moderate limits.
The earliest specimens of ornamental metalwork discovered on Greek soil are those found by Dr. Schliemann at Hissarlik in the Troad, consisting of a large number of objects in gold, such as bracelets, ear-rings, and diadems. Among the specimens of which a detailed description will be found in Schliemann's Ilios (London, 1880) may be mentioned the following:--Nos. 873, 874, bracelets, consisting of a thick gold plate piped with wire, and adorned with spiral ornaments of gold wire soldered on the plate (cp. Nos. 690-693); No. 685, diadem, composed principally of hexagonal leaves of gold; Nos. 834, 835, hairpins; No. 834, consisting of a quadrangular plate ornamented with spirals of gold wires soldered on, like the bracelets just mentioned; gold disks (p. 500), of which No. 903 represents a flower of star form, in repoussé work (see also Ilios, p. 42, No. 14, and p. 453 ff.). The appellation “Treasure of Priam” given by the discoverer to a large class of these objects is misleading, inasmuch as the art described in the Homeric poems is quite certainly of a more advanced character. The Hissarlik metal work is, in fact, the product of a half-barbarous people, and its simple and unambitious character may be discerned in the preference for such ornamentation as the spiral (a form which is naturally suggested by the curling of gold wire), and in the infrequent representations of animal forms. An early though more advanced style is represented by the objects discovered by Schliemann at Mycenae (Schliemann's Mycenae, London, 1878: cf. Newton, Essays on Art, p. 246 ff.; Prof. P. Gardner, Journal of Hellenic Studies, i. p. 94 ff. (1880); Milchhoefer, Die Anfänge der Kunst in Griechenland (1883), pp. 5-38), which may be approximately assigned to a date not later than B.C. 1000. The Mycenaean objects are, on the whole, the work of rude local artists, scarcely touched as yet by Oriental influence: the specimens in gold, which are extremely numerous, consist principally of plaques in repoussé work, bowls, diadems, and sepulchral masks rudely imitating the human countenance. Round bosses and other circular patterns, and especially combinations of spirals, are the basis of most of the patterns, but floral forms and imitations of insects and of marine life are also employed. Among the most instructive objects may be mentioned the following: (1) a mould of granite, showing fourteen different types of ear-rings and other ornaments, all of which were probably cast in gold and silver (Schliemann's Mycenae, p. 108; cf. Nos. 162, 163). (2) Gold diadems found on the heads of corpses, especially the crown, No. 281 (2 ft. 1 in. long), which is covered with shield-like ornaments in repoussé, and has attached to it thirty-six leaves ornamented in a like manner. The diadems are generally piped with copper wire to give them greater solidity (cp. Nos. 282-284). (3) Lozenge-shaped buttons of wood plated with gold, ornamented with intaglio and repoussé work (cp. Nos. 377-386): among these, Nos. 414-420 represent stars, flowers or crosses, and No. 421 has a spiral ornamentation. (4) Perforated ornaments of gold with engravings in intaglio: Nos. 253-255 represent a man struggling with a lion, and two warriors contending with a lion. (5) Gold cylinder adorned with rock crystal (No. 451); a dragon of gold with scales of rock crystal (No. 452). (6) Scabbards of swords, representing a lion-hunt, winged monsters, fish and plants. The manes of the lions are of red gold; their bodies of a paler tint in the same metal. A distinction of colour is also observed between the sea and the fish swimming in it, and further variety is obtained by the use of enamel in the background. (See Koumanoudes in the Ἀθήναιον, 1880, p. 162, and 1881, p. 309; Köhler in Mittheil. d. D. Inst. in Athen, 1882, p. 241.) For a description of the archaic bronze and gold objects found at Spata in Attica, the reader must be referred to the Bulletin de Corr. hell. ii. p. 185, and reff. there.
The next important epoch in the history of our subject has been denominated the Gracco-Phoenician, an epoch when the rude genius of the Greeks set itself to learn in the comparatively advanced artistic school of the Phoenicians. This is the period of art described, though with some poetic embellishment, in the Homeric poems, in which compositions the higher works of metallic art are spoken of as coming from a foreign and especially a Phoenician source (cf. Brunn, Die Kunst bei Homer; Milchhoefer, Die Anfänge d. Kunst in Griechenl., pp. 138-156; Riedenauer, Handwerk in homer. Zeiten; and especially Helbig, Das Homerische Epos, 1884). Thus it is from the king of Cyprus that Agamemnon receives the present of his cuirass (Il. 11.19), and from Egypt that Menelaus brings back tripods and the basket of Helen (Od. 4.126 ff.). The crater destined by Menelaus for Telemachus comes to him from the king of the Sidonians (Od. 4.616; Il. 23.741), and it is the Sidonians who made the silver crater given by Achilles as a prize at the Funeral Games. Even the elaborate Homeric description of the Shield of Achilles may be shown to have had a tangible basis in works of Phoenician art (see the restoration in A. S. Murray's History of Greek Sculpture, 1880, chap. iii.). This Phoenician art, as revealed to us by the archaeological discoveries of recent years, was not in itself original, but was formed by a curious blending of the art of the Egyptians and the Assyrians. It may best be studied in the numerous metal bowls that have been found in several localities, especially Cyprus and Italy, which were in early days in relations with the Phoenician traders (cp. Clermont--Ganneau, L'Imagerie Phénicienne, 1880; Cesnola, Cyprus, London, 1877; Calonna-Ceccaldi, Monuments ant. de Chypre, 1882; De Longpérier, Musée Natpoléon III., &c.). The epoch generally assigned for the execution of these bowls is the 7th or 8th century B.C., though the manufacture of them according to traditional patterns may have continued to a later period. In the artistic designs of these vessels it is especially important to note the arrangement of the subjects in concentric zones, and the frequent mingling of Assyrian and Egyptian elements. Thus, in the silver patera found at Amathus in Cyprus [p. 1.325](Calonna-Ceccaldi, Rev. Archéol., 1876, i. p. 26; Cesnola, Cyprus, pl. xix.), the innermost zone of ornament is formed by winged sphinxes wearing the uraeus; in the next zone occurs another Egyptian object, the scarabaeus holding the solar disk, by the side of which we find two figures wearing an Assyrian costume, and having between them the familiar sacred tree of the Assyrian sculptures: the outer zone is filled with scenes of war, in which various costumes and arms may be distinguished. Again, in one zone of a remarkable bowl from Palestrina (Clermont-Ganneau, L'Imag. Phénic., pl. i.) we have a succession of hunting scenes of thoroughly Assyrian style, while as the central ornament of the vessel there appear figures of a distinctly Egyptian type. Another feature characteristic of the art described by Homer is the application of metallic plaques to adorn the surfaces of various objects, such as the scabbards of swords and the wood of chariots (ἐμπαιστικὴ τέχνη, Athen. 11.488b; Eust. ad Il. 11.773: cf. Od. 8.404, 11.610; Paus. 1.20, 1, 3.18, 7, 9.12, 4, &c.). Good extant specimens of plaques employed in this class of work may be found in the archaic bronze plates in the Glyptothek at Munich, which were found near Perugia, and probably served to ornament the wood of a chariot (H. Brunn, Beschreib. der Glyptothek, No. 32 f.; Micali, Monum. di ant. pop. Ital., 1833, pl. xxviii., xxxi.): the British Museum also possesses from the same find the fragment of an archaic work in relief, formed of very thin plates of silver hammered out and joined together. The subject represents two men on horseback, riding side by side at full speed, and underneath the horses a third figure, prostrate. The figures are in high relief, and the details of the hair, the borders of the drapery, &c., are of thin plates of gold laid on the silver. (Millingen, Anc. uned. Mon. ii., pl. 14; Brit. Mus. Guide to the Bronze Room. For various specimens of early metal-work found at Olympia, see Furtwängler, Die Bronzefunde aus Olympia, Berlin, 1880.)
As specimens of early jewellery we may refer to the objects of gold (now in the Louvre and British Museum) found by Salzmann at Camirus in Rhodes, which may be regarded as products of Phoenician art in the 8th century B.C. (Salzmann, Nécropole de Camiros; Rev. Archéol. N. S. t. 4.1861, p. 466 f.: cf. 1862, t. vi. p. 264, and t. vii. (1863).) As an example of these we may take the pale gold plaques which belonged to a necklace and which are embossed with the alternate designs of a Centaur of primitive type with Egyptian head-dress, seizing a hind, and a winged female figure, the goddess Artemis or Anaitis, holding a lion and a panther. Another plate is ornamented with a recumbent lion of Assyrian style: the mane is formed by massing together minute granules of gold, while the ears are marked out by lines formed of similar granules. On the same plaque is the head of an eagle, adorned, like the lion, with granulated designs. From the plaque itself are suspended pomegranates, chainlets, and heads of Egyptian style. Of early jewellery found in Greece Proper we may notice the gold studs or ear-rings found in 1860 at Megara (Lenormant, Les premières Civilisations, ii. p. 384): they are decorated in repoussé, with human heads of Egyptian character, facing. Another interesting specimen of archaic jewellery, stated to have been found at Athens and belonging probably to the first half of the 6th century B.C., is an earring published in the Journal of Hellenic Studies (vol. ii. p. 324), on the oblong pendant of which is represented side by side a pair of female figures, beaten out in relief. The arms of both these figures are straightened closely to their sides, and their dress and attitude, though very archaic, present a resemblance to the Canephori of the Erechtheum. Various other archaic gold ornaments from Corinth, Athens, Camirus, Melos, Delos, Etruria, Lydia, &c., will be found described in the Arch. Zeitung, Jahrg. xlii. pp. 90-94, 99-114; and in Bull. de Corr. hell., iii. p. 129 f. We may note in these a gradual development from simple geometric ornamentation to groups of men and animals, and mythological subjects.
Our knowledge of the jewellery of the fine period of Greek art is mainly derived from two great sources--the excavations in the tombs of Southern Russia and in those of Etruria. Of the Etruscan jewellery, the Louvre, the Vatican, and the British Museum possess numerous and choice examples. The objects from Southern Russia, which belong to a great extent to the 4th century B.C., are now in the Museum of the Hermitage, and may be studied in the elaborate Comptes rendus de la Commission archéologique de St. Pétersbourg, and in the Antiquités du Bosphore Cimmérien. The great European jewel-collections contain specimens, unrivalled in workmanship, of all the various objects of personal adornment--necklaces with pendants, ear-rings, bracelets, brooches, &c. The main effect in this jewellery is due to “the combination of small figures and flowers in repoussé work, with fine filigree, granulated patterns and vitreous inlays.” Precious stones, such as garnets, are sometimes introduced, but in the best age the jeweller made comparatively little use of them. The ancient jeweller is distinguished by his delicate manipulation of the gold, his mastery of modelling, his extraordinary minuteness of work, and by the technical skill which produced the granulation (i. e. the soldering of extremely minute particles of gold on a leaf of gold), which is especially noticeable in the jewellery of Etruria. (Cp. Castellani, Communication faite à l'Académie des Inscr. et Belles-Lettres, 20 Dècembre, 1860; Dell' oreficeria italiana, Roma, 1872; B. Bucher, Geschichte der technischen Künste, p. 139 ff.; Newton, Essays on Art and Archaeology, p. 373 ff.; Charles de Linas, Les Origines de l'orfévrerie cloisonnée (1879).) The jewellery from Etruria, which in its earlier period betrays an Oriental influence, is in its later and finest stage so thoroughly Greek in character as to be a fair exponent of the capabilities of the Greek jewellers. For details as to the form, &c., of the various objects of personal ornament, the reader is referred to the separate articles in this Dictionary; but as furnishing a sample of the fertile invention and surpassing skill of the Greek workman, we may here refer to two classes of ear-rings of which the Hermitage has a rich collection, and of which there are good specimens in the Gold Ornament Room of the British Museum. The first class, which is the simpler and perhaps somewhat the earlier in [p. 1.326]date, consists of ear-rings formed of twisted wire and terminating at one end in the head of an animal, especially a lion. The second class consists of the specimens attached to the ear by a hook, which is covered by a round disk. The disk itself is generally adorned with some subject suitable for a medallion, such as a full face in relief, and beneath it are suspended one or more small figures. For these pendants Victories are often chosen, and an especial favourite is a tiny figure of Eros holding various objects, such as a scroll or a musical instrument. As exquisite specimens may be noticed a pair (Compte rendu de la Comm. arch. St. Pétersb., 1870-71, pl. vi., figs. 11, 12; cf. Compte rendu, 1868, pl. i., figs. 1-3) composed of a rosette, from which hang three chains, the two outermost terminating in pendants: from the middle chain hangs a goose, inlaid about the feathers with granulated work. In the centre of the rosette is a garnet, from which radiate leaves in blue enamel, forming a star pattern. The minuteness of the work is especially noticeable in another ear-ring of this class (Antiq. du Bosphore, pl. xii. a, fig. 5 a), on which, below the disk, is a chariot with four horses, flanked by Victories. In the chariot are two figures, and below the group is an ornament from which are suspended vases and chains. (Cf. also Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 1863, pl. 162; Bijoux du Muséc Nap. III., No. 112.) The jewellery actually intended for ordinary wear must be distinguished from that made for sepulchral purposes and for use on some exceptional occasion. The fine ear-rings found in the Koul Oba (Antiq. du Bosphore, pl. xix.) and those from the Crimean tomb of the Priestess of Demeter (Compte rendu, St. Pétersb., 1865, pl. ii.) could never have been worn in the usual way, but must have been suspended from the head-dress on festal days. The latter consist of large medallions representing Thetis or a Nereid on a dolphin, carrying the armour of Achilles, and from them there hang pendants and chainlets. Most European museums--as the Louvre, Hermitage, Vatican, and British Museum--possess specimens of the remarkable class of jewellery made principally for the adornment of the corpse; namely, the gold crowns composed of extremely thin leaves of gold, imitating the foliage of different trees. (Cf. Bijoux du Mus. Nap. III., p. 9 ff.; Antiq. du Bosphore, pl. iii.-v.; Mus. Gregor. i., pl. cxxvii. f.) A very fine specimen of jewellery not intended for wear is the votive gold crown found at Armento, and now at Munich. It is composed of branches of oak intertwined with garlands of flowers, while winged figures are placed amidst the foliage. (Arneth, Monum. des Antik. Cabinets in Wien, p. 41, pl. xiii.; Avellino, Memorie dell' Academia Ercolanese, 1.1872, p. 207 if.; Gerhard, Antike Bildwerke, i. x.）
Another important branch of the toreutic art is constituted by the production of gold and silver vases, elaborately adorned--generally with reliefs in repoussé, or with ornaments separately made and soldered or riveted to the vessel [EMBLEMA CRUSTA]. (Cf. Plin. Nat. 33.139, &c.; Ovid, Metam. iii., 5.80; Juv. 1.76; Quint. Inst. 11, 47.) With the increase of luxury under the successors of Alexander, this branch of art began to assume especial prominence (cf. Athenaeus, 4.129, 30; Plin. Nat. 33.154, &c.); unfortunately the vases now extant do not enable us to judge very satisfactorily as to the merit of the Greek toreutae, inasmuch as they mostly belong to the Imperial age when artistic work of this class had either quite declined (Plin. Nat. 33.157) or had been vitiated by the use of exaggerated relief and the employment of precious stones. (Cf. Miarquardt and Mommsen, vol. vii. p. 686; Linas, Orig. de l'orfév. cloisonnée, 1877, t. 1.100.3.3; Thédenat and Villefosse in Gaz. Arch. 1884 and 1885, “Les trésors de vaisselle d'argent trouvés en Gaule.” ) At the same period, vases by the great Greek masters were collected by the Romans (Plin. Nat. 33.147 ; ib. 157; Juv. 1.76; Mart. 8.6. 1, 4.39, 14.93, &c.), and were doubtless copied with more or less fidelity by the Roman artists. (Cf. Plin. Nat. 34.47; Michaelis, Das Corsinische Silbergefäss, p. 19.) Among the more important vessels in the precious metals now extant should be mentioned the following:--(1) The magnificent silver vase in the Hermitage Museum which was found in the tomb of a Scythian king at Nicopolis (Compte rendu, St. Pétersbourg, 1864, pl. i., ii., p. 11 ff.). It has the form of an amphora, and on its upper part are friezes of Scythians and animals, in high relief; leaves and flowers adorning the body of the vessel. The decoration is partly in repoussé, and partly consists in ornaments, like the lion-masks and the head of a winged horse, separately made and gilded and then soldered on. This vase has. been assigned to the 4th century B.C. (2) Silver vase in the Antiquarium of Munich, ornamented externally with a circular frieze, in which are represented Trojan captives, in low relief. (Cf. Thiersch, Abhandl. d. bair. Academie, Philol. Classe, 5.1849, p. 111.) (3) The Corsini vase, on which see the Memoir by Michaelis, Das Corsinische Silbergefäss. (4) Specimens in the Berlin Museum from the silver Treasure found near Hildesheim in Hanover (Wieseler, Der Hildesheimer Silberfund, and reff. in Gaz. Arch. 1884, 266, 267), some of which go back to the time of Augustus or earlier. They have much executional merit, but present the Roman characteristics of exuberant ornament and exaggerated relief. (5) Specimens in the Bibliothèque Nationale from the Treasure discovered at Bernay in France: the vases are of varying merit and differ in date; one class being ornamented in very prominent repoussé, the other in lower relief with slight and delicate lines (Chabouillet, Catal. gén. des Camées, etc., de la Bibliothèque Nationale (1858), pp. 418-457 ; Journal of Hellenic Studies, vol. iii., p. 96 ff.; Gaz. Arch. 1884, 344). (6) The gold patera of Rennes, into which are inserted gold coins ranging from Hadrian to Geta. The bottom of the vase is adorned with a large medallion executed in repoussé, and bordered by a wreath of laurel leaves in low relief. (7) Silver vases found at Pompeii and now in the Museum at Naples (Quaranta, Di quattordici vasi d'argento disotterrati in Pompei). Silver goblet in the Museum at Naples, found at Herculaneum, on which is represented the Apotheosis of Homer (Millingen, Anc. uned. Monum. ii. pl. 13; Zahn, Schönste Ornam. in Pompei, 3.28). This list may be concluded with a reference to the specimens in the celebrated silver treasure discovered at Rome in 1793, and now in the British [p. 1.327]Museum. It consists of caskets, vases, trappings, and ornaments of silver, and was probably executed for the most part about the end of the 5th century A.D. The figures and ornaments on most of the objects are generally embossed and chased, and gilding is applied to the salient parts. The figures, as might be expected at so late a period, are coarsely executed and of clumsy proportions. (Visconti, Opere Varie, ed. Labus, Milan, 1827, i. p. 210; British Museum Guide to the Blacas Collection, 1867, pp. 24-27.)
To the examples of ornamental metal-work which have now been mentioned in this article, and which are principally in gold and silver, must be added certain specimens in bronze which are adorned (1) with engraved designs, (2) with figures in relief. A remarkable specimen of archaic Greek engraving is found on the bronze cuirass discovered in the bed of the Alpheios, and photographed in the Bulletin de Corr. hell., 1883, p. 1, pll. i.-iii. Besides figures of animals, the design shows a group of six human figures. Engraved designs occur most frequently upon the circular metal disks used as mirrors by the ancients, the largest class of which comes from Etruria. Though on some of the Etruscan mirrors the drawings are of a masterly character, the greater number are executed loosely and without much regard to beauty of composition. (See Gerhard, Etruskische Spiegel, Berlin, 1841: cf. also the incised friezes of the Etruscan Cistae, Gerhard, op. cit. i. pp. 1-73; H. Brunn, Annali d. Inst. Arch. Rom. xxxiv. pp. 5-22, ib. xxxvi. pp. 356-76; Scnöne, ib. xxxviii. p. 150 ff., and xl. pp. 413, 421; Brit. Mus. Guide to the Bronze Room, “Cistae.” ) Engravings on mirrors of purely Greek work are rare: amongst the most beautiful examples may be cited the mirror representing the Genius of the Cock Fights (Musée de Lyon), and the specimen with the hero Corinthus crowned by a female who personifies the Corinthian colony of Leucas. (Cf. A. Dumont, Bulletin de Corresp. hellén. i. (1877), pp. 108-115; Monuments grecs de l'Assoc. des Etudes grecques, 1873.)
The covers of the mirrors of box-like form--mostly found in Greece proper--offer favourable specimens of reliefs executed in bronze. Several of them belong to a good period of Greek art: their subjects, as a rule, are borrowed from the cycles of Aphrodite and of Dionysos. Fine examples of Greek repoussé work in bronze are also to be seen in the plaques with figures in relief which once served to ornament armour or other objects. Good specimens of these come from the finds at Dodona (Carapanos, Dodone et ses ruines, p. 33 ff.; cp. ib. p. 187 ff.), and among them may be especially mentioned the plaque in repoussé, which perhaps adorned a cuirass, representing the contest between Apollo and Heracles for the possession of the Delphic Tripod. This work has been assigned to the 4th century B.C.; the treatment of the figures being archaistic rather than genuinely archaic. (Carapanos,, pl. xvi.) Another remarkable plaque from Dodona which may be assigned to the same century adorned the cheek-piece of a helmet, and portrays in relief the combat of Pollux with Lynceus. (Carapanos, pl. xv.) Lastly, there must be mentioned the bronze plaques in the British Museum found near the river Siris, in Lucania. They formerly served as ornaments to mask the buckles of a cuirass, and consist of two groups in very high relief, the subject of each being a combat between a Greek warrior and an Amazon. They were probably executed by some artist of the school of Scopas, and are remarkable for their masterly composition and modelling as well as for the refined execution of their details. (See P. O. Brönsted, The Bronzes of Siris, published by the Dilettanti Society, 1836; cf. Brit. Mus. Guide to the Bronze Room.）
Authorities.--A comprehensive treatise on the ornamental metal work of the Greeks and Romans, based on a complete examination of the monumental and literary remains, is still a desideratum. At present, the details have to be gathered from a number of archaeological works, of which it would not be practicable to give an exhaustive list here; but references to the most important sources of information will be found in the text of this article.
[W--K. W--H.]