Merovingers, big on jewelry

Brilliant precious metal work

The Merovingian era represents a very special chapter in European art history, mainly due to the creativity of the goldsmiths. There are not so many pieces of jewelry on the market but they can fetch quite a bit. We take a closer look at this still little-known art as the Royal Museum of Mariemont holds an exhibition on the Merovingians.

From the 4th century, the Roman empire faced invasions by Germanic tribes, hunted by Attila and his Huns, from the steppes of Central Asia. The Franks gradually penetrated into Gaul. At the end of the 5th century, the dynasty of the Merovingians (481-754 AD) came to power there, resulting in great cultural changes. Classical literary art, kept alive in the 5th century by grammarians and orators, would gradually change in the next century under the influence of Christian culture. That change came in the other arts as well. Clovis (465-511), the first king of the Merovingian dynasty, and his successors created the Frankish empire, with churches inspired by the form of the Roman basilica. Curiously, the flowering of goldsmithing and manuscript illumination led to the return of Celtic elements, despite the influence of Christian and Germanic cultures. It is precisely these Celtic elements that are the true foundation of Merovingian art. In the early Middle Ages, still influenced by Roman culture and with new forms of political power, particularly original art forms emerged with a wealth of materials and colors that still astound.

Symbols of power

The court art and religious art of the Merovingians was technically and aesthetically of very high quality. This artistic creativity was particularly expressed in the art of goldsmithing. Two key figures of the time practiced the art of goldsmithing themselves: King Chilperik I (561-584) and Eligius (c. 588-660), who later became the bishop of Tournai-Noyon and was eventually canonized (commonly known as St. Eligius). Eligius was the treasurer of King Chlotarius II and then King Dagobert I. He is now the patron saint of silversmiths. Merovingian locking pins and jewelry were usually of silver or a copper alloy, sometimes gold or iron. They were decorated with niello, filigree work, beads of glass or garnet stones, sometimes with ancient gemstones that were reused. An occasional time they were also decorated with expensive gemstones, such as sapphires or emeralds. As for the iconography, they often chose foliage and combinations of zoomorphic motifs. The more of these fine pieces a monarch owned, the greater his economic prestige and the greater the skill of his people. According to tradition, Eligius is said to have managed the treasure of Chlotarius II and proved that with the same amount of gold intended for one throne, you could make two. In any case, goldsmiths occupied an important place in Merovingian society. Given the rarity of gold in the empire, they had to combine this precious metal with other materials. Consequently, their techniques also evolved, along with damascening, combining damask motifs (such as twills and sine lines) with filigree work, cloisonné work and colored stones encased in thin metal borders. Their creations are stunning examples
of Merovingian art. The style and origin of the materials point to intense economic contacts with other countries. According to Marie Demelenne, curator of the exhibition at the Royal Museum of Mariemont, "Archaeometric research provided definitive information on the origin of some materials, such as pearls, glass, garnet stones from the Indian subcontinent and amber from the Baltic region. Those materials were sometimes particularly exotic, coming from, say, Rajasthan or Sri Lanka. The beautiful pieces, created from a combination of different metals and alloys, worked with complex techniques, show how accomplished the silversmiths of the time were. This applies to all ornaments and certainly the jewelry. Their techniques allowed Merovingian silversmiths to create a wide range of
decorations to create."

Cloisonné work

An important feature of Merovingian art are the techniques and motifs borrowed from other civilizations beyond the borders of the former Roman Empire. Testimonies to this include objects with (colored) figures whose outlines are indicated by narrow metal edges: cloisonné work. Quite a few of these objects have been found in Merovingian graves. They are usually jewelry such as clasps and earrings, or clothing accessories such as buckles and metal plates - mostly worn by women. King Childeric I (c. 436-481), the father of Clovis, fastened his cloak with a Roman-style cross-shaped clasp pin. He also wore an armband of solid gold and used a signet ring, as did all Merovingian monarchs after him. After the great population movements in the 5th century, the cloisonné technique spread just about everywhere in the West. Originally, the technique originated in Persia. It was later adopted by the Alano-Sarmatian peoples of the Caucasus. The technique also spread north of the Black Sea, and then through the Danube, including into the Hun empire, during the first half of the 5th century. It is possible that it was Childeric who introduced the cloisonné technique to the Franks when he returned from exile in what is now central Germany. His treasure, discovered in Tournai in 1653, contained many a piece due to that technique, which combined gold with garnet stones, the most important stone in Merovingian art. Marie Demelenne: "Cloisonné work was often found at the beginning of the Merovingian era. Small latticework of often gilded silver, sometimes copper alloy, iron or even gold, was applied vertically, as geometric decoration. Small stones, cut into slices, were set into them, sometimes also pieces of glass. Under these insets, one applied smooth or ajour-worked gold or silver leaf, for extra shine."

Eligius, patron saint of silversmiths

Archaeologists noted that cloisonné work found in graves became rarer from 600 A.D. Eligius was a silversmith particularly skilled in the cloisonné technique, so typical of Merovingian art. His mastery is shown, among other things, by his famous altar cross, partly destroyed during the French Revolution, but to be admired in its full glory in a famous painting of about 1500, by a painter known as the "Maître de Saint-Gilles" (London, National Gallery). The remaining part of the cross is today in the treasure of the Basilica of Saint-Denis, in the northern banlieue of Paris. The garnet stones with which it is decorated were examined by the Centre de Recherche et de Restauration des Musées de France. Unlike the garnets used to decorate older
objects (treasure of Childerik), the garnets used by Eligius come from Portugal. The cross of Eligius is therefore representative of the last period of the Merovingian cloisonné tradition. In the 5th and 6th centuries there was still an uninterrupted supply of fine Indian garnet stones. The later interruption of that supply was not due to the Merovingians, but to internal conflicts on the Indian subcontinent.

Symbolic dimension

Marie Demelenne points out that this technique was far from being the only one used by Merovingian-era silversmiths and jewelers. For example, a large number of necklaces made of glass beads were found, typical of the end of the Merovingian period: "Filigree work, stones and beads of colored glass were typical of the end of the Merovingian era. Gold or silver threads were attached to the surface of an object. For the decorative effect, the threads were twisted cord-like. At the end of the 6th and into the 7th century, filigree work covered the surface of small motifs, circles, spirals, rank decorations, for example in the form of an S, U or 8, whether symmetrical or not, which added strength to the play of light and contrasts between materials, especially on disc-shaped locking pins. Like the goldsmiths, the glass artists were able to create complex shapes and showed astonishing technical mastery. Until 550, glass was still imported from the eastern Mediterranean in the form of blocks. However, this did not stop the Merovingians from trying new things. Thus, some decorations made of lead and tin distinguished themselves from the typical Roman glass with antimony. Towards the end of this period, they started using a new type of glass, specifically potassium glass. That was also immediately the end of a long period of dependence on Eastern production." Also of great importance was the symbolic dimension of Merovingian art, including goldsmithing. Its visual impact was all the greater since the forms were limited to the essentials. Most striking, however, remains the ingenuity of the Merovingian artists, who knew how to create new forms again and again.

Source: Collect Magazine No. 1
Text: Christophe Dosogne