As in many ancient societies, jewellery was an important social marker used to demonstrate wealth and richness. In Ancient Greek culture, jewellery was worn in everyday life but was also buried with the decease as part of his or her funerary outfit. Jewellery might have been enriched by precious and semi-precious stones and decorative motives would have included popular myths, gods, goddesses, and heroes. Granulation was used as early as the 3rd millennium BC in Egypt and Western Asia. The process needed great care and extreme patience. The small gold granules would be placed on the base metal in the desired pattern and fused together. This process took a great deal of time. By the 5th century granulation had been widely replaced by filigree among the Greek culture.
To find out more about different metal decorative techniques please see our relevant blog post: Decorative Metalwork Techniques
