Tuesday, June 4, 2013

The Land of Gold

Back in the day gold was very popular because it was used for making ornaments and it was also used as a trading medium because of its great value.Gold in ancient times was made into shrines and idols, plates, cups, vases and vessels of all kinds, and also, jewelry for personal adornment.Gold became a part of every human culture. Its natural beauty attracted many cultures and therefore was used in many places. Nowadays gold is used mainly for jewelry, sculptures, and statues. Gold jewelry has always been used for a wide variety of styles in different culture.. It amazes me how gold can be crafted into a piece of jewelry, gold coins or onto works of arts like mummies or sculptures.I found it pretty cool to see gold in different forms like on mummies and other things that people used back then. During my visit to the MET I visited Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the America's gallery as well as the Egyptian and Greek gallery. I found a lot of gold sculptures and a lot of jewelry in the galleries that I went to and was really amazed in how gold was used back then. A lot of the gold statues and jewelry that i found look similar because they all are made out og gold but some of them include other metals. Right now gold is very expensive due to the u.s economy doing bad and many people invest in them. But people definitely don't use gold exactly the same way as they did before so here are ten images that show how gold was crafted on to something or into something.



1."Gold bracelet in the form of a snake"


  Period: Early Hellenistic
  Date: 300-250 B.C
  Section:Greek
  Medium: Gold
















 2."Mummy of Artemidora"

      Period: Roman 
      Date: A.D.90-100
      Section: Egyptian
      Medium: Plaster, paint, gold leaf, linen, human remains

  
 


3." Beaker Figure with Shell"
     Date: 9th-11th century
     Section: Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas (Peru)
     Medium: Hammered Gold



















4."Gold Statuette of Zeus Serapis"
    Period: Mid-Imperial
    Date: 2nd Century A.D
    Section: Greek
    Medium: Gold


















5."Headband with Heads of Gazelles with a story between stars or flowers"
 
    Period: Second Intermediate Period
    Date: 1540-1648 B.C
    Section: Egyptian
    Medium: Gold












6."Gold Dhiale" (libation bowl)
   Period: Hellenistic
     Date: 3rd-4th Century
     Section: Greek
     Medium: Gold


















7."Three Gold Octadrachms"
      Period: Hellenistic
      Date: 204-221 B.C
      Section: Greek
      Medium: Gold

















8."Ceremonial Knife" (Tumi)
       Date: 9th-11th century
       Section: Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas (Peru)
       Medium: Gold, Silver, turquoise


















9."Pair of Earflare Frontals"
    Date: 12th-15th century
    Section: Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas (Peru)
    Medium:Hammered Gold Alloy




     














10."Necklace"
     Date:10th-16th century
     Section: Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the America(Colombia)
     Medium:Cast gold 

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