Czére Andrea szerk.: A Szépművészeti Múzeum közleményei 105. (Budapest, 2006)

MARIANNA DÁGI: Training the Eye: Technical Details as Clues in the Attribution of Ancient Jewellery

earrings which belonged to a pair

—and which were therefore evidently products of the same goldsmith

—should be studied individually, since such cases allow us to identify not only the mannerisms typical of a given hand, but also to define the range of variation possible within an individual craftsman's established technique. A separate and detailed technical analysis was therefore carried out on each individual piece, before comparison of the findings. The comparative analysis that followed involved consideration of the earring's wdiole structure, each of its structural elements, the details of each element, and how these were made and put together. As a result, it has finally proved possible to identify certain technical features which point to a relation closer than mere identity of type on eight of the eleven examined pieces (three pairs and two solo earrings).

9 Two pieces (see nos. 1-2, figs. 1/a-d. and 2/a-d.) inventoried under different numbers, which, despite their obvious similarities visible to the naked eye, were until now considered as probably unrelated, because of difference in the colour of the raw material. Examination of technical details has proven beyond the shadow of a doubt that they really were made by the same goldsmith, and in fact form a pair.

1(1 The decisive evidence here, as will be explained below, was the difference in the formation of the left and right ears of the animal. On the right ear of both pieces, the mark left by the conical punch in the ear is sharp and distinct, while on the left ear it is not (see figs. 1/e-f., 2/e-f). Of the details identified here, several are visible on another pair of earrings (see nos. 3-4, figs. 3/a-d., 4/a-d.) which differs from no. 1 and 2 in several obvious ways. The shape of the small catch-ring soldered under the animal's chin, the shape of the long, round-tipped arches on the connecting element, as well as the uneven edge of the connecting element's base-sheet and the difference visible between the punch mark on the left and right ear of the bull are all features which connect the two pairs. The connection is immediately clear from analysis of particular details. All three catch-rings" are straight on the bottom and rounded on the sides, with both ends straight and bent imvards on the diagonal; their ends do not meet (cf. figs. 1/g., 2/g., 3/e.). "Ehe ends of the long, round-tipped wire arches on the connecting elements of all four pieces are bent slightly inward (cf. figs. 1/h., 2/h., 3/f., 4/e.).

12 In the case of the catch-rings and the arches, the sameness of their shape clearly betrays an identical series of hand- and toolmovements which were used in making them. It is even possible to reconstruct this series of steps in the case of the catch-rings.

13 On all four pieces, the scalloped edge of the base-sheet of the connecting element is serrated in places (see figs. 1/i., 2/i., 3/g., 4/f.). This unevenness is probably the result of the goldsmith's inability to apply a constant pressure to the blade he used to cut the sheet, or to hold it steady