Comparisons of Byzantine and Islamic Jewelry
The Islamic and Byzantine did. Jewelry in both
Civilizations had some similarities but there were many differences. In the
Byzantine Empire their jewelry had more focus on showing their jewelry off, while
the Islamic Civilization’s jewelry was simple and more meaningful. The style in
the Byzantine Empire was big gemstones, a popular way to wear the gemstones was
in a brooch, in the middle is a large red gemstone that is surrounded by pearls
with three large pearls hanging down by gold chains, behind the brooch are
sapphires and some emeralds. While in the Islamic Civilization a popular
necklace style was a circular silver pendent that was inscribed with verses
from the Holy Quran on it. The Byzantine Empire was more superficial with their
jewelry unlike the Islamic empire which was more Simplistic with their jewelry.
The
following from the Antique Jewelry University’s article said, Jewelry was used
to show status of the one wearing it so the Byzantines’ used every possibility
to decorate them. Women wore large gem set necklaces while men wore pectoral
ornaments they were often coin based and
would be decorations for military service or another status symbol. Bracelets
were worn in pairs of two. Another common way of using gems was to make them
into polished cabochons and put them in collets this was easier than setting
the gems in the gold most rings didn’t have gems in them they were made of
inscribed metal the same as larger earrings. Pendants were very popular for
both female and males. Emperor Justinian ruled that he was the only one who
could decide what people go to wear the finest jewelry to keep the jewelry
exclusive. 
According
to the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s website the book Islamic Jewelry, Most were coins that were solid gold or silver and
have verses from the Holy Quran inscribed on it. Most of their pendants had
verses on it, either in the middle or along the outside as a boarder of the pendant.
These were mostly worn as necklaces and sometimes worn ad rings or bracelets. They
liked their jewelry to be simple they didn’t like gemstones and intricate
designs. They quality of the jewelry was determined on the quality of silver or
gold
A.
Jewelry
in everyday life
1.
Showing
of wealth
a.
Amount
of jewelry and gem stones
b.
Gold or
silver
2.
Showing
of religion
a.
Verses
from Holy Quran
b.
In the
shape of crosses
B. Importance
of jewelry
1.
Show of
status
a.
Military
pendants
b.
Type and
color of jewelry
2.
Showing
of importance
a.
Quality
of Gemstones
b.
Type
of gold or silver
C.
Byzantine empire cared more about show
1.
People were chosen to wear jewelry
a.
Important people got high quality
jewelry
b.
Types of gemstones where off limits to
public
2.
Bigger
is better
a.
Big gemstones
were used
b.
Gold
and silver were important
c.
Precious
materials were used
D.
Islamic civilization didn’t care all about show
1.
Materials
were not everything
a.
Pendents
were made from tin
b.
Not super
bulky
2.
Jewelry
had meaning
a.
Verses
from the holy Quran
b.
Pictures
of god or important people
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