|
|
|
| Current Issue |
|
|
| Resources |
|
|
|
Gold of Two Worlds
| Article
# : |
18751 |
|
|
Section : |
THE ARTS
|
| Issue
Date : |
12 / 1991 |
2,114 Words |
| Author
: |
Andre Emmerich
Andre Emmerich is the author of Sweat of the Sun and Tears of
the Moon as well as Art Before Columbus. |
Peter Martyr d'Anghiera, known in Spanish as Pedro Matir de Angleria, wrote from the perspective of a Renaissance scholar and a member of a society that valued gold above all other material things. It was the eager search for gold that propelled the conquistadors across the vast, dangerous, and unexplored expanses of the America and spurred them on to extraordinary exploits. Sadly, they turned most of the gold they found into bars and into the famous Spanish "pieces of eight," the heavy gold coins that are still found by divers on ancient shipwrecks in the treacherous shallows where many gold-laden Spanish galleons sank.
In Spain itself, a tradition of fine work in gold flourished in workshops, especially those of Toledo. Although much Renaissance gold work has been destroyed since then by the ravages of wars, sufficient examples are encountered in paintings of the period to allow us to make a direct comparison on European gold work with that of the New World.
Symbolic Chains
European men of the Renaissance tended to wear chains around their necks both as private ornaments and as symbols of their rank and status as knights of noble orders, mayors of cities, and so forth. For ladies of the royal court, lockets and intricately wrought filigreed pendants enhanced by pearls and small precious stones were typical ornaments. Most important of all were ecclesiastical vessel-chalices, candlesticks, and crucifixes. The study of these has been in the realm of scholars of medieval and Renaissance art, while the study of the metalwork of the Indians of the New World has remained in the province of pre-Columbian specialists. As a result, little work has been done comparing these two very different cultural traditions, which met in such a dramatic and violent way five hundred years ago. This remains a frontier of scholarship still waiting to be explored in depth.
The Indians of ancient America responded to the shimmering beauty of gold and silver just as men have all over the globe since time immemorial. Unlike the ancients of the Old World, however, the Indians in pre-Columbian America never coined gold and silver or used the metals as a primary medium of exchange--this function was left to such plainer substances as cacao beans, cotton mantles, and small, T-shaped blades. The sense of monetary value that we experience in relation to gold and silver never arose to interfere with the appreciation that the Indians felt for these marvelous materials. Precious materials were utilized for their beauty and imperviousness, out of which
...
Read Full Article
Look for this article in Ask.com
|
|
