Greece: Hellenistic Silvers

The Topic:

Hellenistic silvers are luxury objects made out of silver and silver gilt (gold sheeting applied to silver), and feature inlays of other precious metals and gemstones. They are decorated with a variety of iconographies, popular scenes and themes in art particularly for luxury objects. They reflect Hellenistic style in the rendering of figures, and interest in ostentation as well, and are therefore good representatives of products from the Greek Hellenistic period. If the topic sounds rather dull, have a look at this article before you decide that you're not interested.

Discussion Questions

1. What are some of the typical iconographies of Hellenistic silvers?
2. What is the style of rendering figures and landscape on the silvers?
3. How is the decoration on the surface of the silvers organized?
4. What sort of shapes / vessel types are common? Which are commonly found together?
5. How does the vegetal ornament show parallels and influences between workshops in the Hellenistic world?

Bibliography from 2006, requires further research into more recent publications

All of these sources are available at UVA. They are not otherwise widely available, so you will want to find more recent sources on the subject on your own unless you'd like to make a trip to UVA.

DeJuliis, E.M. 1984-5. Gli Ori di Taranto in Età Ellensitica. Milano: Brera 2. (Available at LoC, UVA)

Guzzo, Pietro Giovanni. 2003. “A Group of Hellenistic Silver Objects in the Metropolitan Museum.” Metropolitan Museum Journal 38: 45-94 Pdf Download: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1513102

H., R. 1931. "Review of Le Trésor de Tarente." JHS 51: 118-9. (JSTOR Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/627435) (Not suitable in length for the 'Review of Scholarship' assignment)

Oliver Jr., Andrew. 1977. Silver For the Gods. The Toledo Museum of Art. Meriden: The Meriden Gravure Company. (Available at LoC, UVA)

Rotroff, Susan I. 1982. The Athenian Agora: Volume XXII Hellenistic Pottery. Princeton: The American School of Classical Studies at Athens.

Strong, D.E. 1966. Greek and Roman Gold and Silver Plate. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. (Available at LoC)

Wuilleumier, Pierre. 1930. Le Trésor de Tarente. Paris: Librarie Ernest Leroux.