The Toreutics of Volga Bulgaria and the Golden Horde Bulgar Ulus: problems of tradition continuity

Peculiarities of the 11th-14th-century jewelry and the progress of jewelry-making traditions in the territory of Volga Bulgaria in the pre-Mongol and Golden Horde period are discussed. In the 11th-12th centuries, there existed two jewelry-making schools in the region: the Bulgar and the Bulgar-Kama ones. Following the Mongol conquest (the mid- to second half of the 13th century), the transformation of the Volga Bulgaria jewelry school was underway, and serial items produced in the Golden Horde tradition became widely spread. The pre-Mongol jewelry center in Bilyar was functioning until the late 1280s. Its Bulgar counterpart that was developing simultaneously, partially adopted the heritage of Bilyar jewelers, but the Golden Horde tradition prevailed, and the earlier production forms were quickly forced out. The tradition of pre-Mongol Bulgar jewelry art continued to develop in the Cis- and Trans-Urals on the basis of the Bulgar-Kama school: in the framework of the Bulgar-Perm school (second half of the 13th to the 14th cc.), followed by the Western Siberian artistic trend of the 15th century.