The Neohellenic jewellery in museums and private collections is distinguished by its impressive quality and remarkable variety. Many of these rare and precious pieces are published and so known in the bibliography. Spanning a broad continuum in space and time, they illustrate aspects of both Turkish-occupied Greece and the Hellenic diaspora after the fall of Byzantium in 1453.

These exquisite objects, valuable reflections of the panorama of Hellenism, include not only jewellery wrought by native craftsmen but also that of foreign origin which was incorporated in the Greek tradition, remodeled and adapted, its variations taking their place alongside ancient Greek and Byzantine memories in the artistic history of this land.
The tradition of silver- and goldsmithing in Greece is lost in the mists of time. In Greek mythology Hephaestus, god of fire, the `divine smith', appears as the inventor of metalworking. In his Olympian forge he fashioned such magnificent works as Achilles' shield, Herakles' golden breastplate, Zeus' sceptre and throne, Ariadne's wedding crown. In the course of 5,000 years miniature creations in metal, noble or base, have made their mark on Hellenic civilization.

In more recent times, among the elements composing the distinctive character of Neohellenic art (16th - late 19th century) the deeply ingrained Byzantine tradition merits special mention. Heir to the an of ancient Greece, it in its turn bequeathed to posterity forms and shapes, colors and materials, imprinted in new creations. Diverse influences of Western inspiration, nurtured by and filtered through Greek antiquity, also reached Greece via the Venetian-held territories, while the later invasion of baroque and rococo traits from Italy and Central Europe, as well as the impact of the highly decorative aesthetic of Islamic an, were readily assimilated by the skilful Greek craftsmen.