History of Jewellery in Ukraine - Slavic Jewellery

Slavic Jewellery

The early 6th century saw the spread of Slavic people, and the state of Kievan Rus' was founded in around 880 CE. Traditions of previous inhabitants did not vanish, and this was quite apparent in the jewellery. Alongside original autochthon forms, there is a mix of Scythian, Sarmatian, Hun, Greek, Celtic and Viking influence on Slavic jewellery. The techniques which were familiar to the ancient Slavs included forging, stamping, chasing, granulation, lost-wax casting enameling, and niello. Artisans reached a very high level of technical proficiency. The Benedictine monk Theophilus rated jewelers of Kievan Rus second only after the Byzantines. Besides the pendants, rings, torques, armlets, fibulas, necklaces and other such jewellery, which had been common to all nations, Slavs had original jewellery – silver armlets of a distinctive Kiev type, enameled kolts and diadems. Slavic metal amulets such as spoons, hatchets, horses, ducks, zoomorphic and anthropomorphic sewed plates are also well known.

Around this time, Ukraine also began to feel the influences of the Byzantine Empire, most notably in world view, culture and art. New types of creative works appeared, such as rich book settings, often embroidered with pearls (mainly from the Dnieper river), liturgical cups, crosses, icon setting frameworks, and later on boxes for storing relics, church chandeliers, cups, and plates. In 1240 the Mongol invasion of Rus led by Batu Khan completely destroyed Kiev. The artisans of Rus' were made prisoners and forced to work for the Tatars. The Mongol occupation lasted for several centuries. Revived centres in Halych and Volodymyr tried to continue Kievan traditions. Simultaneously, small colonies of north-eastern Slavs along the Volga River and its tributaries were borrowing some of the better Rus' handicraft traditions. In combination with local cultural traditions as well as under the influence of Baltic people they contributed to the new culture that would later be called Russian.