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For this blog I chose the Dagger Blade With Lion Hunt. It is probably a pretty rare piece of metal work for that time era. The dagger is actually made of bronze and was found in a grave called Shaft Grave IV, Grace Circle A, Mycenae, Greece. To form the decoration of the dagger the artist cut shapes out of different colored metals such as copper, silver and gold. He then inlaid them into the bronze blade adn addded detail in niello. It was decorated to display the wealth of a ruling elite. Niello is still a common method of metal decoration. It is powdered nigellum which is a black alloy of lead, silver, and copper with sulfur. It was then rubbed into very fine engraved lines in the objects being decorated. It then is fused to the surrounding metal with heat. The lines appear to be black drawings.
I think this form of art on blades is very popular with a lot of hunting knives that are made for display or hunting. The picture I have included is a modern day hunting blade and it can be used as a display or in the hunt. I could not find out for sure if the technique that was used to get those lines was called niello but it sure looks like it is. It has a lot of fine lines that make the blade look very exquisite. And through history their has been many different swords and knives with various types of designs from other metals to precious jewels. The sword posted above is an example of one that is built for display and contains a bunch of precious jewels.
2 comments:
I enjoyed your comments about the knives. I would imagine that the knives created back then would have served (sometimes) for dual purposes: decoration and functional use. I still see highly decorated swords and knives which are made today, simply for decoration. My brother has a collection of beautiful, highly decorated knives and swords from all over the world. What's even more interesting to me, is the see that same 'intricate metal-work' look be carried over into other areas for design and decoration. For example, I've seen a lot of shirts and belts for men, which have that same look we see on those old blades, and incorporate it into the essential design of the clothes. This is interesting to me, because now we don't really have the need for knives and daggers like the Agean's did, and so clothes and fashion seem to have become the new medium for showing off wealth and decoration. Just as the Agean's were buried with decorative daggers, were are buried with decorative clothes.
I really liked your comments about the knives. To answer one of your questions, the name of the steel still made today to make knives with "the little black lines" is Damascus Steel. I have several of them personally and have to keep them extremely well oiled to prevent them from rusting. The technique uses several types of steel heating and molding them together. The lines seen are the differentiation between the various kinds of elements used in construction.
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