Crafting the King's Gold
In the Cham Hindu religious culture, gold was not a precious commodity for commerce but was considered a sacred gift from the gods. Gold was a symbol for the gods and King, who was incarnated with divine power on earth. Gold is associated with the sun and its radiance, representing the highest spiritual quality – the symbol of eternity, of life after death. The luster of gold is also linked to Hindu cosmology that describes the origin of the universe as hatched from a golden egg. Therefore, as a Hindu kingdom, Cham gold objects were made by the finest craftsmen to adorn and glorify the King (who often represented himself as the god Shiva). Even the Cham stone statues were often ornamented with gold jewelry during religious ceremonies.
Boat shaped pectoral
Cham gold jewelry was manufactured as divine objects being designed and finely processed by the artistic skill of the Cham royal goldsmith. He inherited much of his craft from the Sa Huynh culture and adopted many of the technical manufacturing aspects from the Oc-Eo culture of Funan. When united with a Hindu dominated society that was far removed from the birthplace of the religion, these techniques created a unique and original Cham style.
The majority of Cham gold jewelry was not made to decorate the human body but as tribute objects, offerings to the gods and the King during religious rituals. Therefore Cham art production was consigned to the highest technical skill, requiring a variety of precision instruments and techniques like intaglio engraving. From the Western perspective, the jewelry of a goldsmith is usually not classified as art but rather a handicraft. In the case of Cham gold jewelry, the craftsmanship is considered the highest of art forms producing objects of the highest order. Since they were designed to adorn the gods, they are big and broad in styles, decorated with religious imagery, surrounded with magnificent artistic flowerings as seen in pectorals, pendant earrings, and rings.
The majority of Cham gold jewelry was not made to decorate the human body but as tribute objects, offerings to the gods and the King during religious rituals. Therefore Cham art production was consigned to the highest technical skill, requiring a variety of precision instruments and techniques like intaglio engraving. From the Western perspective, the jewelry of a goldsmith is usually not classified as art but rather a handicraft. In the case of Cham gold jewelry, the craftsmanship is considered the highest of art forms producing objects of the highest order. Since they were designed to adorn the gods, they are big and broad in styles, decorated with religious imagery, surrounded with magnificent artistic flowerings as seen in pectorals, pendant earrings, and rings.
There are many features of Cham gold religious jewelry that are not usually observed in Javanese or Indian jewelry. Cham gold jewelry usually has a centrally located deity on each work of art. Surrounding the deity are symbols and motifs, some of which were adopted from Bronze Age cultures like Dong Son, and Sa Huynh, which are found throughout Southeast Asia. These symbols include a double spiral, filigree, braiding, pastille, worm-like designs, and rows of triangles. Cham jewelry was often made in the shape of a boat or a bird to symbolize the passage of life, through death to the after life.
Birdlike pectoral with wrinkled backing
Cham religious gold jewelry usually has a front face that is finely struck and detailed using repoussé technique. The word repoussé originated from the Latin “to push” and today is more commonly described as a French term meaning "pushed up". Repoussé jewelry is worked from the reverse side of the metal to form a raised design on the front. After the front piece is finished, a thin gold backing is applied with solder made of gold alloy that was specifically designed to have a lower melting point than that of the workpieces. The backing both encloses and strengthens the piece. The thin gold backing naturally wrinkles during the heating process that is necessary to apply the gold liquid solder in a technique that was far advanced for its time. It is a testimony to the goldsmith’s craftsmanship that on any single finished piece, all three components (front face, backing and solder) are indistinguishable in color.
The techniques of repoussé date from the Bronze Age and were first developed to produce fine, detailed work on malleable metals such as copper, silver and gold. A famous example of repoussé from antiquity is the mask of Tutankhamen. A very modern example of this technique is the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor.
The techniques of repoussé date from the Bronze Age and were first developed to produce fine, detailed work on malleable metals such as copper, silver and gold. A famous example of repoussé from antiquity is the mask of Tutankhamen. A very modern example of this technique is the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor.