Materials from the Italian cemeteries of Castel Trosino and Nocera Umbra : Byzantine influence in Lombard jewellery production

Studying the materials brought to light from the graves in the Early Medieval cemeteries in Castel Trosino and Nocera Umbra leads to a reflection concerning jewellery handcraft. Although to date jewellery has been studied only superficially, it could be the starting point for a multidisciplinary analysis which would go beyond a simple study of the production in the early Lombard age. It could in fact throw light on the trading of luxury objects and on the circulation of typological and stylistic models strongly influenced by the byzantine culture. Manufacturing and use of jewellery for personal adornment was typical of the German people who attributed a primary role to precious objects to highlight their social status. This habit emerges in a relevant way studing Castel Trosino and Nocera Umbra grave materials where the ranks of the tombs are clearly evidenced, as well as the difference in the quality of the jewels produced of German and Byzantine tastes which evolved in parallel without damaging each other. Even though the refined manufacture and the precious materials evident in the Byzantine objects would appeal to the Lombard people, it is also true that imitating the “fashion of Constantinople” was accompanied by a clear allusion of the wealth and power of the Byzantine court. It is of little importance that the sophistication of the artifacts in the Byzantine style found in the cemeteries of Castel Trosino and Nocera Umbra were not up to the level of the production of the workshops in Constantinople, what constituted a relevant factor was the call to a clear model belonging to a well-formal stylistic language easily decoded and equipped with its own symbology. The aim of this study is to show how the Byzantine influence clearly carachterized some of the Lombard jewels brought to light in the two central Italy necropolis, to compare them with contemporary Costantinopolitan productions and to highlight how byzantine cultural guidelines reached not only the empire’s territories more sensitive to that kind of cultural influence (e.g. Syria and Egypt) but also all those territories and societies with different customs and traditions which were unable to resist the charms aesthetic and symbolic of Byzantium.