Two Great Silversmiths
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POPI ZORA Two great silversmiths ATHANASIOS TZEMOURES GEORGE DIAMANTIS BAFAS NATIONAL ORGANIZATION OF HELLENIC HANDICRAFTS 1 9 7 2 -- --;-~-:. / POPI ZORA Two great silversmiths NATIONAL ORGANIZATION OF HELLENIC HANDICRAFTS 1972 Two great silversmiths Preface One of the fundamental features of the folklore art is the communal way of esthetic expression and the anonymity in which, as a rule, the artists remain. The folklore artist, true to the designs and expressive means handed down to him by tradition, moves steadily among the familiar figures, basically the same, but each time renewed by the individual artistic touch. Occasionally, the artist urged on by the eternal human need to outlive his work, marks his creation with a name or date. It is the touching effort of the simple man to make his presence felt in the world of art and so allow him to communicate with the generations to come. Very rarely, do special historic events contribute to the establishment of artists, who lacking proper education and being self-taught, create their own personal manner of expression and escape anonymity by projecting their eponymous artistic personality. This is the case of two great craftsmen in the art of silvering, Tzemoures and Bafas, who sometime between the end of the 18th and the middle of the 19th century marked the neohellenic ecclesiastical art of silvering with their presence. The ecclesiastical art of silvering is still an unknown chapter in our folklore art. The vestries and treasuries of the churches and monasteries conceal incredible masterpieces made of silver, waiting for the researcher or researchers to reveal their existence and beauty to the world. For the time being, isolated and sporadic inquiries and publications have thrown some light on this most fascinating field, omitting however, important elements indispensable for a permanent classification and evaluation of the neohellenic ecclesiastical art of silvering. 3 It is -a well known fact, that the precious silver and gold-trimmed objects are a tradition within the Christian church, as reve~led by chroniclers in their descriptions of luxuriant Byzantine churches. The artistic flourishing evidenced in Greece during the 18th century caused a rapid growth in the art of silvering. The new middle class that emerged as a result of the historic conditions of the time, with their optimistic desire for freedom and a strong inclination to luxuries and adornments, were soon attracted by the silvering process in its various forms. As a result, a strong movement revolved around the elaboration and trade of silver and the tradition of the precious silver ecclesiastical objects was revived more vigorously. Lay-people and clergymen were fervently engaged in enriching the churches with all kinds of silver objects and sacred vessels. Frequently, the date appears next to the name of the artist or doner. The ecclesiastical silverware enables us to identify some of the few eponymous creators of our folklore art and follow closely the process of esthetic trends and artistic currents. Owing to their craftsmen and workshops, a prominent place in this silverware activity, developed in the 18th century, is held by the two 1 thriving towns of Pindos, namely Syrrako and Kalarrytes . On the steep, precipitous escarpment of the western sides of the Pindos mountains, the small town of Kalarrytes crouches on sharp and wild rocks, thus making access extremely difficult and dangerous. On the opposite side _lies Syrrako and in between the deep ravine of Skala, washed by the Kalarrytinos, the violent tributary river of Arachthos. Pouqueville, the French Consul to the Court of Ali Pasha, after his visit to the inaccessible small town in 1815 was dazzled by the savageness of the landscape, and wrote that the place was meant for hawks and eagles and not peaceful people, lovers of are. In Ali's times, the small town of Kalarrytes consisted of 525 families of Vlachs, who with genuine Greek conscience, ransomed their autonomy 3 by paying a yearly tax to the Valide Sultana • In winter, when Pindos was cut off from the rest of the world by snow, the people of Kalarrytes, basically shepherds,. came down to the valley of Thessaly and earned their living by trading their milk products. Those who could not make a living by cattle-raising, turned to trade and craftsmanship. The main objects of these activities were cotton-wool of Macedonia and Thessaly, silk of Aya, thick woolen textiles for the capes of the Albanians and the sailors of Andriatica, untreated skins, furs and gold embroidered cloths. 4 The result was financial prosperity for the Kalarrytes' population and the establishment of markets in the principal commercial cities of the time, such as Naples, Leghorn, Genoa, Sardenia, Venice, Trieste, Raguza, Ancona, Vienna, Constantinople and Moscow. This financial prosperity was inevitably followed by the intellectual flourishing of this town of Epirus. When visited by Pouqueville, the people of Kalarrytes were fluent in foreign languages and possessed libraries with literature of both foreign 4 and Greek classical works • The field where the people of Kalarrytes surpassed themselves, however, was in the manufacture of silverware. The elaboration of silver reached such a point of perfection that we can clearly state that the most famous silverware of contemporary Greece was created in Kalarrytes' 5 workshops by native craftsmen • In 1821, during the conflict between the armies of Hoursit and Ali, when the Turks conquered and uprooted the 6 people of Kalarrytes , the most famous silver craftsmen took refuge in the peaceful Eptanesa, (the Ionian islands), where they continued their art and became world famous particularly because of their ecclesiastical pieces of art. Tzemoures, Bafas, Papamoschos, Papageorghiou, Polychro nides, are some of the names of the great silversmiths of Kalarrytes, whose memory was to be respected by countless generations of Greeks. It is said that Demetris Papageorghiou was paid a golden sovereign for each stroke of his chiseF. Orders were placed by well-to-do ladies of Eptanesa with Spyridon Papamoschos for a gold trimmed wine mug- "mastrapa" as it was called -, which they wanted to offer to Lady Douglas, wife of the 8 British High Commissioner, before her departure from Corfu in 1841 • Today, one of the most famous jewelry shops in Europe, "Bulgari" in Rome, has its origins in the old goldsmith generation of Kalarrytes. However, the one who became a legendary figure for the silversmiths of Epirus, is the fabulous Tzemoures, known as the famous master craftsman of Ali Pasha and renowned for his gospel covers. 5 Athanasios Tzemoures The date of Athanasios' birth, as the son of Nickolas Tzemoures another great Kalarrytinian goldsmith, is unknown. However, the years of his artistic peak coincide with the last decades of the 18th and the first of the 19th century. His secular works are also unknown. Undoubtedly, objets d'art forAli Pasha and precious jewelry to adorn the delicate necks 9 of his wives, originated from Tzemoures' workshop • This anonymity, characteristic of our folklore art, prevents us from ascertaining his contribution to the field of jewelry and secular silvering in general. The significance of his unmatched artistic value is revealed in his gospel 10 covers • Tzemoures, fully conscious of his uniqueness in this field, signed the gospels, with nice round letters in relief, adding the name of his birthplace: 'Exa-raox c:~ao-fr11 xai xa-raoxc:~a~wv -rat £v xaA.aQ ~ru-rat~ xwQCov n'Dv 'Iwavv(vwv ota X£LQo~ 'A-fra vaoCou N txoA. aou T~11!lou- Q'l1· (plate 1). meaning, that such gospels, like the one in question, are made in the town of Kalarrytes, Ioannina, by the hand of Athanasios Nickolaos Tzemoures. 6 On gospels made especially for the churches of Eptanesa, as for instance, the Monastery of Platytera in Corfu, he gives the Italian translation of the above inscription: Fabrica d 'Attanasio Zimuri di Calavrito nella Provincia d'Ipiro. (plate 3)11 In such cases, he goes even further, by placing on the interior of the front cover of the gospel an embossed inscription with the· same lettering, reading: Ta nae6v-ca 6ovA.Evwv -caL ds; 'XUAUQQV'taLs; XW QLOV -c&v 'Iwavv(vwv DLa XELQOs; a-fravaa(ov N. T~flJ-tOVQfl. To aaLJ-tfl -cwv dvaL A.ayaea ... f] TLJ!TJ -cwv dvaL. .. (plate 5). meaning, that such gospel covers are made in Kalarrytes, town of Ioannina, by the hand of Athanasios N. Tzemoures, their serial number, the net weight of silver ,and the price. He fills in by hand the serial number of the particular work, the price which is one thousand six hundred piasters and his signature. He seals with wax his initials at the top and bottom of the inscription. These typical inscriptions, the term "fabrica" as translated from Greek into Italian which Tzemoures also uses in his will (see below), the seal with the serial numbers and the fixed price of his masterpieces, denote an organized and systematic approach, far superior to that of the simple handicraft worker. It is not pure coincidence that two seals with serial numbers are still intact on gospels of Eptanesa, the one bearing no 8 on the gospel of the Monastery of Platytera in Corfu 12 and the other no 23 on the gospel of Saint Dionysios. It is a well known fact that, in 1808 the Governor of Zakynthos to attest the genuineness of silver, made an order that obliged 7 the craftsmen to seal with their personal hallmark all their silver works, 13 and it is likely that the Tzemoures' seal is connected with this incident. However, judging from the serial no 23 on the gospel of Saint Dionysios, it is difficult to comprehend that the artist numbered and sealed only the gospel covers meant for Eptanesa.