Nike (Victory) Builds A Trophy. Blue chalcedony gemstone, carved in intaglio, shown here at three times actual size.
Victory, like Aphrodite, invites nude statues from the fourth century on. These hard-stone gems offer masterpieces of
miniaturist art and must have been cut by major artists of their day. A big fourth-century stone such as this would have
been set on a pendant since the practice of setting such stones in finger rings was still quite rare.
Wealth acquired in the form of precious metal might be converted into jewellery for wear or silver plate for use, but in
temple inventories the value of such dedications is reckoned as bullion without regard to the added value of workmanship.
Greek jewellery was generally plain in colour and seldom even juxtaposed gold and silver, but it was technically perfect,
and not the least of the peculiarities of Greek art is its display of both brilliant miniaturism (jewellery, engraved gems) and
sheer monumentality.
State patronage was concerned principally with public buildings and their decoration, with commemorative dedications,
usually at the major national sanctuaries such as Olympia and Delphi which thus became showcases of Greek art, and with
coinage. A classical democracy could prove no less ambitious in promotion of its image at home and elsewhere than an
archaic tyrant. Sources of funds -were roughly similar - booty, taxes, ownership of mines - and the line was thinly drawn
between expenditure on public works, even fleets and armies, and religious ones. Indeed the resources, including works of
art, of the latter, could be called upon by the state to finance the former in times of crisis.