Art Forms
Metalwork
Citation Formats
General Reference
APA Style
BibTeX
Metalwork is the shaping of metal, including gold, silver, bronze and iron, into objects of adornment, religious artifacts and trade instruments through techniques such as forging, casting, engraving and repousse and chasing. The oldest archaeological evidence of copper working is a copper pendant from northern Iraq dated to about 8,700 BCE.
Facts
MediumGold, silver, bronze, iron and other metals, shaped by forging, casting, engraving, repousse and chasing 1 Signature TechniqueTechniques including lost-wax casting, forging and granulation, the last occurring independently in numerous ancient cultures before any historical record of contact between them. 1 Place of OriginThe ancient Near East; the oldest archaeological evidence of copper mining and working is a copper pendant from northern Iraq dated to 8,700 BCE. 1 Notable ExampleThe Benin Bronzes, a celebrated corpus of West African metal sculptures and plaques made using lost-wax casting. 1 Cross-Tradition Connections
Movements
The Arts and Crafts Movement revived hand-worked metalwork through guilds such as C. R. Ashbee's Guild and School of Handicraft.
Sources
1. Wikipedia
Wikimedia FoundationMetalworking, History section, Sheet (and tube) forming processes section and Prehistory sectionQuote, Metalworking, History section, Sheet (and tube) forming processes section and Prehistory section
By the above periods metalworkers were very skilled at creating objects of adornment, religious artifacts, and trade instruments of precious metals...Repousse and chasing...The oldest archaeological evidence of copper mining and working was the discovery of a copper pendant in northern Iraq from 8,700 BCE.
1. Wikipedia
Wikimedia FoundationMetalworking, Sheet (and tube) forming processes sectionQuote, Metalworking, Sheet (and tube) forming processes section
Repousse and chasing
1. Wikipedia
Wikimedia FoundationMetalworking, Prehistory section, copper pendantQuote, Metalworking, Prehistory section, copper pendant
The oldest archaeological evidence of copper mining and working was the discovery of a copper pendant in northern Iraq from 8,700 BCE.
1. Wikipedia
Wikimedia FoundationBenin Bronzes, The works sectionQuote, Benin Bronzes, The works section
The metal pieces were made using lost-wax casting and are considered among the best African sculptures made using this technique.
1. Wikipedia
Wikimedia FoundationMetalworking, History section, granulationQuote, Metalworking, History section, granulation
Sophisticated techniques were practiced by artisans, blacksmiths, atharvavedic practitioners, alchemists, and other categories of metalworkers around the globe. For example, the granulation technique occurs in numerous ancient cultures before the historic record shows people traveled to far regions to share this process.
1. Wikipedia
Wikimedia FoundationMovements: Arts and Crafts Movement, Arts and Crafts movement article, Guild of Handicraft (C. R. Ashbee) sectionQuote, Movements: Arts and Crafts Movement, Arts and Crafts movement article, Guild of Handicraft (C. R. Ashbee) section
The guild's work is characterised by plain surfaces of hammered silver, flowing wirework and coloured stones in simple settings.
Reader Challenges (0 open reader challenges)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.
Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.
View At A Past Year
The atlas records no dated fact of its own for this entry, so there is no other year to choose.