Filigree

A technique of decorating jewelry with gold, silver, or electrum soldered onto metalwork. It consists of creating a fine open metalwork pattern out of wire which is soldered together and to the main body of the piece. The wire can be plain or decorative. For goldwork, the solder was normally a gold-copper alloy (82% gold, 18% copper), which had a lower melting point than pure gold. The word is derived from the Italian 'filigrana' which is 'filum' and 'granum' or 'granular network'. It was first developed in the Near East and was often used in combination with granulation. The technique had been mastered by the Early Dynastic Sumerian craftsmen of the 3rd millennium BC and fine jewelry decorated in this way appears in the Royal Tombs of Ur. Anglo-Saxon and Germanic metalworkers greatly developed the technique.

A technique of decorating gold and silver jewellery: designs formed by thin wire are soldered on to the part to be decorated. The technique had been mastered by the Early Dynastic Sumerian craftsmen of the 3rd millennium bc and fine jewellery decorated in this way appears in the Royal Tombs of Ur. One of the greatest developments of this technique was by Anglo-Saxon and Germanic metalworkers, who used it to decorate gold jewellery and other objects. The wire was produced by hammering, rolling, twisting and coiling, and then threaded, pearled and beaded into delicate granulated and plaited patterns. The main function of filigree at this period was to soften hard edges and fill in blank spaces; it is extensively used on such pieces as the Alfred Jewel and the Kingston Brooch.