Toreutics

{{Short description|Type of artistic metalworking}} {{wikt|toreutics}}[[File:Situle (musée national de Slovénie, Ljubljana) (9428277598).jpg|thumb|Toreutics on the Vače Situla (Slovenia, 5th century BC)]] The term '''''toreutics''''', relatively rarely used in English, refers to artistic metalworking<ref>{{cite book|last=Hegel|first=G. W. F.|translator-last=Knox|translator-first=T. M.|url=https://archive.org/details/aestheticslectur0001hege|title=Aesthetics: Lectures on Fine Art|volume=II|year=1998|page=161|isbn=0198238177}}</ref><ref>''How to Understand Sculpture'' by Margaret Thomas, Kessinger Publishing, 2005, p. 25.</ref> – hammering gold or silver (or other materials), engraving, or using repoussé and chasing to form minute detailed reliefs or small engraved patterns.<ref>''Hutchinson Encyclopaedia''. Helicon Publishing LTD 2007.</ref> Toreutics can include metal-engraving – forward-pressure linear metal removal with a burin.<ref>{{cite book|last=Untracht|first=Oppi|author-link=Oppi Untracht|title=Jewelry Concepts & Technology|year=1982|page=283}}</ref>

Toreutics is extremely ancient,<ref>{{cite book|last=Thomas|first=Margaret Thomas|author-link=Margaret Thomas|title=How to Understand Sculpture|publisher=Kessinger Publishing|year=2005|pages=25–6|isbn=9354415016}}</ref> and depending on the metal used will survive burial for periods of centuries better than art in many other materials. Conversely if above ground it was likely to be melted down and the metal reused. Until the Middle Ages it was also among the art forms with the highest prestige.

==Archeological background== It was practised in the Bronze Age and was well established centuries before the shaft graves.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Kristiansen|first1=Kristian|last2=Rowlands|first2=Michael|title=Social Transformations in Archaeology: Global and Local Perspectives (Material Cultures)|edition=1st|year=1998|page=135|doi=10.4324/9780203984550|isbn=978-0-2039-8455-0}}</ref> Toureutic items of special quality from the Iron Age are the Certosa situla from Italy and from Slovenia the Vače situla and the Vače belt-plate. Toreutics flourished to an unusual degree among the peoples of Asia Minor, Assyria, Babylon, and passed from thence to ancient Persia.<ref>Gershevitch, I., ''The Cambridge History of Iran'' (1985) p. 154.</ref> One spectacular example of the direct influence of Persia in toreutics is believed to be the Treasure of Nagyszentmiklós found in Transylvania in 1799, and considered to be work of Old Bulgarian<ref>Crampton, R. J., ''A Short History of Modern Bulgaria'', Cambridge University Press, 1987.</ref> gold smiths. It consists of 23 vessels and has been attributed to Attila's Huns,<ref>{{cite book|last=Grousset|first=Rene|author-link=Rene Grousset|url=https://archive.org/details/dli.pahar.3379|title=The Empire of the Steppes, a History of Central Asia|translator-last=Walford|translator-first=Naomi|publisher=Rutgers University Press|year=2005|page=25}}</ref> the Avars<ref>Hildinger, Erik, ''Warriors of the Steppe'', Da Capo Press, 1997, pp. 57–92. {{ISBN|978-1-8851-1943-8}}.</ref> and Pechenegs. The majority of scholars however, consider it Bulgarian (Proto-Bulgarians,<ref>Dimitrov, Dimiter P., ''[https://archive.org/stream/BulgariaLandOfAncientCivilizations/bulgaria_ancient_djvu.txt Bulgaria – Land of Ancient Civilizations]'', Foreign Language Press, Sofia 1961, p. 33.</ref> Bulgars), because of its runic inscriptions.<ref>{{cite book|title=Bulgarian's Treasures from the Past|last1=Venedikov|first1=Ivan|author-link=Ivan Venedikov|last2=Boyadjiev|first2=Sava|last3=Kartalev|first3=Dimiter|publisher=Foreign Languages Press|place=Sofia|year=1965|pages=345–55}}</ref>

==Etymology== Toreutics comes from Greek "τορεύς" which means "borer, piercerer". As is so commonplace in Greek, there is also an associated adjective, i.e. "τορευτικός"<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/02-herder-sculpture-some-observations-on-shape-and-form-pages|title=Sculpture: Some Observations on Shape and Form from Pygmalion's Creative Dream|last=Herder|first=Johann Gottfried|author-link=Johann Gottfried Herder|translator-last=Gaiger|translator-first=Jason|year=2002|isbn=0226327531}}</ref> which means "of or for metal work". In both cases the root is the verb "τορεύω" which means "to work in relief";<ref>Sallust, ''Conspiracy of Catiline and the Jurgurthine War'', (2004/6) p. 62/72.</ref> to work in relief. As Ancient Greek extends back to the Proto-Indo-Germanic language in which the root is''*''{{Lang|mis|terə-}} which describes the art of working metal or other materials by the use of embossing and chasing to form minute detailed reliefs. The origin of the use of ''toreutics'' in the English language goes back to 1830–40; < Gk {{Lang|grc-latn|toreutikós}}, equiv. to {{Lang|grc-latn|toreú(ein)}} 'to bore, chase, emboss' (v. deriv. of {{Lang|grc-latn|toreús}} graving tool) -''tikos''.

==Applications== *Greek style,<ref>[https://www.academia.edu/447495/Les_tombes_de_Derveni_quelques_remarques_sur_la_toreutique= Sideris, A., "Les tombes de Derveni. Quelques remarques sur la toreutique"], ''Revue Archéologique'' (2000), pp. 3-36. {{DOI|10.2307/41017402}}. {{JSTOR|41017402}}.</ref> Inscriptions on toreutics<ref>[https://www.academia.edu/481269/Bronze_Drinking_Vases_Bearing_Dedicatory_Inscriptions= Sideris, A., "Bronze Drinking Vases Bearing Dedicatory Inscriptions"], ''Eirene'' 38, 2002, pp. 167-201.</ref> *Achaemenid–Persian–Sassanid<ref>Miller, Margaret C., ''Athens and Persia in the Fifth Century BC: A Study in Cultural Receptivity'', (2004) p. 59. [https://www.academia.edu/447534/Achaemenid_Toreutics_in_the_Greek_Periphery= Sideris, A. "Achaemenid Toreutics in the Greek Periphery"], in Darabandi S. M. R. and A. Zournantzi (eds.), ''Ancient Greece and Ancient Iran. Cross-Cultural Encounters'', Athens 2008, pp. 339-353. {{ISBN|978-0-5216-0758-2}}.</ref> style, Christian toreutics,<ref>Renan, Ernest, ''The history of the origins of Christianity'': Volume 3, (2007) p. 95.</ref> Folk craftsmanship, Bulgaria *Beaten copper<ref>Gaston, Mary Frank. ''Antique Brass & Copper Identification & Value Guide'', (1991) p. 19. {{ISBN|0891454780}}.</ref> (Tibet) *Tsuba gold toreutics (1860) Mito school. thumb <gallery class=center>     Image:Potala-roof-toreutics80percent.jpg|Toreutics on the roof of Potala Palace (dragon head corner). Image:Touretics-Dhvaja-wiki.jpg|Dhvaja on the roof of Sanga Monastery. Image:Jewelry and clothing ornaments.jpg|Gold crafts from the Philippines prior to Western contact. Image:BeatenCopper-Wheels70percent-wiki.jpg|Prayer wheels in Tsozong Gongba Monastery. </gallery>

==References== {{Reflist}}

Category:Artworks in metal Category:Bronze Age art Category:Iron Age art Category:Persian handicrafts