Abstract
Silver convulsed and transformed the early modern world. It bankrolled and justified the Spanish monarchy in its landgrab and empire building, both in the so-called ‘New World’ and in Europe. Demand for precious metals from China and Japan fuelled Iberian colonization in the Americas, Africa, and Asia. Silver accelerated global commerce and the growth of capitalism, intensified the accumulation of capital and uneven trade balances, and enhanced the wealth of northern Europe at the expense of the south – of Latin America in particular -- a wealth which helped jump start the Industrial Revolution a century later. Silver was woven into glittering clothes, beaten into elegant vessels for eating and drinking, fashioned into furniture and furnishings of all kinds, chalices and yadayim (Torah scroll pointers), reliquaries and chasubles. It was gilded, damascened, chased, engraved and nielloed to add to its sparkle, sheen, lustre and flickering dark depths. Silver, even more than gold, lies at the intersection of forces and dynamics – philosophical, religious, material, telluric, economic, colonialist, cultural and courtly-- that transformed the early modern world. This volume draws together cutting-edge essays to rethink silver across diverse fields to bring into relation mining, trade, the Spanish empire and colonialism, Indigenous expertise, high-end Islamic and European silver artifacts, artisanal technical practice, philosophical and alchemical erudition, and the shimmer of silver in textiles. The emphasis is on early modern silver, since that was the crux and highpoint of its economic, artistic, and colonialist convulsive triumph, but the volume strongly resists any notion of an homogeneous historical ‘period’. Time and place were splintered by silver, as well as brought into relation by it. The interrogations of silver offered here are alert to coloniality, postcolonialism, early modern thinking about materials, and new materialism and extend to medieval, eighteenth century as well as contemporary ideas in Latin America, Europe, and beyond. Hence rather than simply an inert matter of intrinsic value from which individual objects of formal elegance and financial worth were made, silver is treated here in terms of idiosyncratic material potential, as culturally imbricated, and as material which profoundly altered the early modern world, and whose tarnish and shine continue to alter the world today.
Get help with access
Get help with access
Institutional access
Access to content on Oxford Academic is often provided through institutional subscriptions and purchases. If you are a member of an institution with an active account, you may be able to access content in one of the following ways:
IP based access
Typically, access is provided across an institutional network to a range of IP addresses. This authentication occurs automatically, and it is not possible to sign out of an IP authenticated account.
Sign in through your institution
Choose this option to get remote access when outside your institution. Shibboleth/Open Athens technology is used to provide single sign-on between your institution’s website and Oxford Academic.
If your institution is not listed or you cannot sign in to your institution’s website, please contact your librarian or administrator.
Sign in with a library card
Enter your library card number to sign in. If you cannot sign in, please contact your librarian.
Society Members
Society member access to a journal is achieved in one of the following ways:
Sign in through society site
Many societies offer single sign-on between the society website and Oxford Academic. If you see ‘Sign in through society site’ in the sign in pane within a journal:
If you do not have a society account or have forgotten your username or password, please contact your society.
Sign in using a personal account
Some societies use Oxford Academic personal accounts to provide access to their members. See below.
Personal account
A personal account can be used to get email alerts, save searches, purchase content, and activate subscriptions.
Some societies use Oxford Academic personal accounts to provide access to their members.
Viewing your signed in accounts
Click the account icon in the top right to:
Signed in but can't access content
Oxford Academic is home to a wide variety of products. The institutional subscription may not cover the content that you are trying to access. If you believe you should have access to that content, please contact your librarian.
Institutional account management
For librarians and administrators, your personal account also provides access to institutional account management. Here you will find options to view and activate subscriptions, manage institutional settings and access options, access usage statistics, and more.