Scythia was an area in central Eurasia, which bordered the Black Sea and largely consisted of nomadic tribes. Scythian art was primarily decorative in its nature, and the Scythians were famed for their highly ornate and carefully crafted jewellery. This gold mount would have been affixed to garments as decoration, usually as part of a pattern, with multiple gold mounts on a single item of clothing. So integral was gold to Scythian fashions that even horses were richly decorated in gold ornamentation. Repoussé is a metalwork technique which involves shaping very thin, malleable metal from the reverse, in order to create a design in low relief. It was a technique used even in ancient times to create delicate gold- and silverware.
To discover more about Scythian culture, please visit our relevant blog post: Scythian Gold.
