Silver and gold from Sri Lanka
Jewellery making in Sri Lanka is an ancient craft that has been in practice for centuries.
Sri Lanka’s jewelry history dates back some 3,000 years. Recently, archaeological discoveries were made in Sri Lankan burial grounds which can be traced back to 1000 BCE.
The ancient discoveries included pieces of jewelry set with polished gemstones and beads originating from Sri Lanka. Due to its rich gem and jewelry history, centuries ago, Sri Lanka earned itself the nickname of ‘Ratnadeepa’ or ‘Gem Island’.
Some history on Sri Lanka jewelry
In pre-colonial times, Sri Lankan jewelry thrived under the patronage of royalty and wealthy people. Artisans working with gold and silver were organized in cast-based “guilds” and followed family traditions.
Foreign occupation and the decline of royal rule did affect jewelry making, however, the tradition survived and continues now, because of the combined use of jewellery as ornament, wealth and investment. The beneficial effects that certain metals and gems are supposed to confer on the wearer has also been important for the continuity of the tradition of crafting jewellery.
The best-known jewelry in Sri Lanka is Kandyan jewellery, which has a strong influence from South India, due to the intermarriage of Kandyan kings to South Indian women and the steady stream of Indian goldsmiths to Sri Lanka.
Particularities of Sri Lankan jewellery
The jewelry of Sri Lanka constitutes a distinctive subgroup within the context of the Indian subcontinent ornamentation. The exquisite use of filigree and granulation (also common in South India and some other regions in North India) gives a characteristic look to this group of jewelry.
The granulation technique seems to have originated in Ur. Mesopotamia around 2000 B.C., and it probably traveled to North India with Alexander the Great, although Oppi Untrach (Traditional jewellery from India, Abrams, 1997) doesn’t rule out an earlier knowledge of the technique in the area.
But the use of granulation in Sri Lanka and South India was most probably the influence of the Arab merchants who traveled by sea, who were great diffusers of culture and techniques all around the coast of South East Asia, including Sri Lanka, Indonesia and the Philippines.
