The manufacture of jewellery, and also
armour, constituted a separate branch of artistic metalwork.
Archaeological finds from excavations in various medieval towns of
Transoxania and
Khurasan provide evidence of the level of development of the jeweller’s
art during the pre-Mongol period. Entire urban districts have been
found
which were occupied by jewellers and armourers. Women’s jewellery,
elements of horses’ harnesses and of military equipment were made
of gold, silver, copper, brass and other metals mined in the
mountainous
regions of Khurasan and Transoxania, and these might be ornamented with
insets of emerald, turquoise, cornelian, chalcedony, garnet and crystal.
From the ninth to the twelfth century, jewellery
shows the same stylistic changes as other artistic crafts. The
growing use of vegetal and geometric patterns is perceptible in
the design of many bronze amulet pendants engraved with
representations of birds and animals. Artefacts cast in
silver, bronze and copper became common: fasteners, belt-buckles,
plaques, amulets and pins in the form of birds and animals, and
serpentine bracelets. The articles of the period that have
survived are mostly common everyday items made of non-precious
metals or silver.
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