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Between 334 and
323 B.C., Alexander the Great and his armies conquered much of
the known world. He and his forces created an empire that stretched
from Greece and Asia Minor, through Egypt and the Persian Empire
in the Near East, to India. This unprecedented contact with so
many cultures, exposed Greek artistic styles to many new influences,
henceforth to be known as the Hellenistic Period.
During the first
half of the third century B.C., and after the division of the
many kingdoms remaining after the death of Alexander the Great,
the Attalid royal family of the great city/state of Pergamon
(presently the city of Bergama in western Turkey) reigned over
much of the western Asia Minor. These Hellenistic kings became
prominent patrons of the arts and dictated the styles of the
times until around 31 B.C.
The royal families
lived in splendor. Elaborate displays of wealth, in the form
of banquets and festivals, commissioned works of architecture
and sculpture, and the private luxury items such as jewelry rose
to a new standard of excellence. New and elaborate forms of jewelry,
incorporating rare and unique precious and semi-precious stones,
demonstrated their wealth and good taste. Jewelry benefited tremendously,
thanks to the greatly expanded trade routes. Masterful uses of
repousse´, gold mesh and filigree techniques, has left
us with an incredible collection of fine wearable art.
Helena of Pergamon
is my contemporary tribute to the Hellenistic Period of jewelry
making. Using the Lattice Weave Stitch, a fine mesh strap is
made that softly drapes around the neck. This strap ends in two
ties that loop over one another for the closure. Taking the design
a bit further, pearls are captured within Peyote stitch bezels
then hooked together to form geometric shapes. These shapes add
embellishment to the mesh at the back of the neck, sides and
front, along with the ends of the ties. The elegance of Helena
of Pergamon coincides with the fine examples of jewelry from
the Hellenistic period, to form a common language, where we all
understand the word, “beautiful”.
Skill level: Intermediate to advanced.
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