Engraved gem

Under a gem (Latin gemma: bud, gem ) refers to a cut gem or gemstone. This is also the technical term for Gemology ( Gemology ) and the name of the stone cutter ( Gemmarius ) derive.

Today is meant by a gem usually a deeper cut gemstone: This image is incised into the stone; these precious stones are also known as intaglio. In contrast, the background of the motif is cut away in a cameo, so the subject stands out as a relief from the rest of the stone. In a broader sense the gem can also be a generic term for intaglio and cameo denote all cut precious stones and gems.

My favorite stone material is the quartz group (eg chalcedony ) in the form of location stones. The oldest stone carvings originated in the 5th to the 3rd millennium BC. Particularly high was the lapidary art of the Egyptians, Persians, Assyrians and Greeks.

Intaglios were often used as seal stones (especially in signet ring ).

Use of ancient gems

The custom of closing something by a seal, is sufficient in some cultures well into the prehistory back. Babylonian cylinder seals give them already witness and even at the present time contracts and other important letters are also provided with an impression. The principle of the prints is to display the owner by the uniqueness of the seal, which guarantees for the content. Engraved cylinders were used to make such images already made ​​at the beginning of the 4th millennium BC in Mesopotamia. These cylinders and also the first Gemmensteine ​​were initially provided with relatively simple characters and images. With the advancement of cutting technique more complicated images were engraved on getting harder stones, which was irrelevant for their original intended purpose as a seal, however. The mass, in which one eindrückte the engraved stones, was - as is known from tradition and obtained certificates - different: bees wax and clay were particularly popular in the ancient world, but also lead has been used for this purpose. Also on vessels footprints have been preserved by Gemmensteinen.

Cut stones could also be mounted on a finger ring and thus be used both for carrying and sniffed as well as seals. Several cameos were also adopted different and served as decoration for a brooch or earrings. There are also numerous gems that were never caught, because they have no residual adhesives or traces of ring frames. These stones may have been preserved because of their beauty and their value as collector's items. Sometimes they were bringing to the owner as a lucky or damage defensively from " magical " valuable perspective.

Technique of Gemmenschnitts

Even in prehistoric times the engraving of signs and images into smaller stones was known. Early engravings have all been dug with a graver in soft stones. Precursor of the first gems were created in the advanced civilizations of the Near East and date back to the 3rd millennium BC It was this to be precious stones, which were used as a roll stamp or seal, with the engraved characters already made ​​with drills or wheel were.

The first cameos in the early Greek world date from the 8th century BC, they are provided with representations that belong to the geometric style. At that time, the technique of engraving, however, was forgotten with a rotating cutting tool. Therefore, soft stones such as serpentine, steatite were used, inter alia, for the seal, which could very easily be edited using a hand-held stylus. Only through the Phoenicians, the sophisticated stone-cutting technique has been used in the Mediterranean world and reached the 5th and 4th century BC a climax. Famous gem cutter from the Hellenistic period, the late Roman Republic and the early imperial period are also known by name (eg: Phrygillos, Sosia, etc.)

At the time of the Roman Empire, from the 1st century BC to the 5th century AD, workshops for the production of gems were widespread and numerous Gemmenkünstler were even mobile in the whole empire on the go.

Has on the art of engraving apart from certain, the type of drive innovations in question, actually changed to this day. The engraver fixed the pre-formed gem on a pad and moving the stone on the rotating pointer as he needed them for his cuts and depressions. The pointer itself were made ​​of relatively soft metal and were made in different sizes, shapes and thicknesses. Your cutting traces on gems are sometimes still visible. In some pieces you can still clearly see the use of different wheel and drill types. Many gems appear to have been prepared, however, with simple tools, such as its simple and rough style shows. The selection of the pointer shapes used met the gem cutter as needed, but this was sometimes determined temporally and fashionable.

Created from soft iron spherical, conical or hat racks, hat -shaped pointer has been dipped in oil and diamond dust, which served as a cutting or abrasive. By turning and turning of the stone on the rotating pointer was then engraved. In this process, the stone was rotated and not the pointer. On the stone the image had been previously incised in outline to complete the cuts better. Between imprints were made to control and details were worked out with finer tools. At the end of the image and the rest of the stone surface was mirror polished.

Types of stone

The technique of Gemmenschnittes was already sufficiently mature already to the Roman Empire, that all already known jewelery and gemstones could be processed. For the selection of the gemstones it was crucial that always certain types of stones were in vogue, whereby price criteria or delivery options played a major role. Even the belief in magical powers of the stones played no small role. Most certain types of stone were preferred for certain groups of images: For magical or gnostic pieces were preferred mottled multi-colored stones such as hematite and the chrysoprase, but also leg is eligible. The preparation and the quality of the blocks were of decisive importance. The stones were probably mostly imported from the Middle and especially from the Far East, as Pliny describes in his Naturalis historia for quite a few varieties: Emerald (XXXVII, 65), Jasper (XXXVII, 115 ff ), amethyst (XXXVII, 40 ) and Sardonyx (XXXVII, 23).

The former fashion trends are not only related to the types of stone but also the colors of gemstones. For example, were in the early Roman Empire darker gems in demand (eg: carnelian, jasper ). The paler colors were again preferred to the late 2nd century AD.

Of the various types of stone were particularly v. between the 1st century BC and the 4th century AD, the carnelian, jasper and asked the AD on the 2nd and 3rd centuries. The Onyx was very popular, especially in the 1st and 2nd century AD.

Glass pastes

Made of glass cast imitations of gems and cameos, which almost always mimic the shapes and colors of precious and semi-precious stones, glass pastes are called nowadays. This is a term which consist of " paste ", the Neo-Latin and Italian designation for glass compositions for the production of precious stones, is derived. Glass pastes have not only common Gemmensteinarten, such as the two-layered onyx, cornelian, chrysoprase imitated among others, but also have their own, of stones not achievable color variation and fantasy spaces provided. Thus, the products were not only cheaper mass produced, but they have opened up gaps in the market, which could not cover the Steinglyptik. By careful observations of two basic types can be distinguished from a technical perspective, requiring two different manufacturing methods.

  • There are pastes with a rather rough scene. Show almost always tracks on the back of an impression, originating from an object to which the composition was pressed into a well- mold. The paste had this picture in the mold. In that the edges adapted to shape the molten glass was dropped and pressed firmly with a hand inserted in the back.
  • This is to pastes with a very smooth image layer, whose back is pressed rough and so close must have been such that a pressure exerted on the image layer. Presumably, a molded edges with prepared mold was also used, in which glass mass was dropped and subsequently forced with a stamp on the pressure side of this picture was admitted.

The imitations are sometimes worked in such quality- full, that there is now difficulty in identifying this as glass and not be seen as a stone. The use of glass pastes in no way differs from the Steingemmen. Also, they are caught in any kind of metal rings. In particular, gold rings are available in special frequency. They seem to have been also used for sealing of soft material, as some pastes exhibit a particular strained surface.

Image inventory

The choice of motifs on the jewelery stones has been for centuries, by variations in trends in religious matters and the development of business and everyday life. Thus, the representations were influenced by beliefs and superstitions, the hope of happiness, success, victory and fear of misfortune, misery and death. A large area cover topics that deal with the world of the gods and patron saints. Another part of the image content on gems and cameos has also worked intensively with the Greek and Roman mythology.

In particular " sacred " subjects had a dominant position in the illustrations. As models of this image issues notably round sculptures and reliefs from places of worship or even coins were used. The image content has been adapted most of the time or the taste of the customers.

There was probably for the Gemmenschnitt a type specimen book in which the most popular motifs were held to facilitate the customers and also the gem cutter, the selection of the motif.

In the late 2nd century after Christ's birth, the influence of Oriental religions and cults in the Western world has been particularly noticeable, has also had an impact on the image contents on gems. Representations of Egyptian gods, such as Anubis and Isis, were also very popular.

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