La evolución del arte del azabache y su evolución en España y el Reino Unido

Abstract

Jet is formed from fossilized monkey puzzle trees or araucaria. The layers of jet date back to 150-175 million years, from the Jurasic period. Then Britain was still joined to Northern Spain. This could perhaps be the origin of Spanish jet from Asturias and Whitby (North Yorkshire) jet having both the highest quality in the world. The aim of our work is to have a wide scope of the evolution of jet carving through the centuries in both countries. Jet has been used as ornament since the Paleolithic and later, the finds of jet jewellery in Bronze Age funerary contexts are abundant and of great beauty. This is specially so in Britain. The ancients (Plini The Elder, Dioscorides, Solino …) appreciated several prophylactic and healing properties of jet besides some others. It continued to be so as we know from Medieval Lapidaries (Isidorus, Marbode, Alphonse X…) The pilgrimage to Santiago brought the greatest expansion for the Spanish jet trade of religious badges, like veneras and St. James statuettes, that European pilgrims took with them back home. From the end of the XVI century along the XVII jet was associated to superstition and used in amulets (the hand: higa) for protection against the evil eye, mainly for children. Whitby jet had its time of glory in the second half of the XIX century. The death of Queen Victoria´s husband kept Europe in mourning for several years, as the only jewellery admitted by the strict mourning rules was made of jet. The local production of raw material couldn´t fulfil the demand and tons of Spanish jet were shipped from Asturias (Villaviciosa) to Britain since 1873 until the turning of the century. Jet mining has always been a hard task as the seams of material are thin and of difficult access. Jet is no longer mined neither in Whitby nor in Asturias, but found by natural coastal erosion. A storm of gales will cause damage to the cliffs and could uncover a seam of jet or cause some portions to fall into the sea and beach. The few jet carvers still active in Whitby get some raw material by beach combing. In our work we study some jet-like materials and the scientific tests undertaken by British archaeologists and some Spanish Universities to discriminate them. Finally, we draw a picture of jet jewellery trade as it is today in Galicia, Asturias and Whitby. The scarcety of raw material is remarkable in both countries. The contemporary designs of jewels are similar as well: jet in combination with ambar, or a variety of semi-precious hard stones, silver or gold.