LOT 0074

Greek Gold Bead Collection

4TH-3RD CENTURY B.C.

3/8 - 1 1/4 in. (11.19 grams total, 10-31 mm).

A collection of necklace pendants and dress appliques comprising: a hollow bead with a truncated conical shape, featuring appliques for precious stone inserts; three studs with a hemispherical dome; a pair of appliques decorated with rosette and mask-shaped elements; a pendant in the form of a myrtle berry, and another fragment. [8]

Acquired by a Swiss family in the mid-1980s to late 1990s, thence by descent.
Private collection, Switzerland, since the late 1990s.

This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by a search certificate number no.13023-246772.

Cf. for similar elements Marshall, F.H., Catalogue of the Jewellery, Greek, Etruscan and Roman, in the Department of Antiquities, British Museum, London, 1911, no.1025; Williams, D., Ogden, J., Greek gold, the jewellery of the Classical World, London-New York, 1994, p.162 (beads).

The iconography of Hellenistic jewellery often incorporates vegetal motifs, reflecting the Greek value of fertility and a royal Greek female wearer’s obligation to produce heirs. With its heavy incorporation of plant motifs, including tendrils, blossoms, and a bursting pomegranate, the diadem design symbolises a woman’s reproductive potential and alludes to the female wearer’s social responsibility to produce offspring.