LOT 0095

Greek Gold Necklace with Amuletic Pendants

5TH-4TH CENTURY B.C.

20 3/4 in. (42.02 grams, 52.5 cm long).

An elaborate two-tiered necklace composed of granulated pendants, most with a teardrop-shaped breloque suspended below and two with an applied rosette to the centre; interspersed with a selection of gold beads comprising lions, bulls, leopards, a sphinx, and a siren; central feature comprising a bead formed as a man riding a lion(?) flanked by two drops, one with a seated sphinx and the other a stylised fish, both with a teardrop-shaped pendant drop; suspended from a plaited chain, no clasp; repaired.

Acquired in the mid 1980s-1990s.
Private collection, Switzerland, thence by descent.
Private collection, 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.12387-226694.

See Higgins, R.A., Greek and Roman Jewellery, London, 1961, pl.33, for a necklace with multiple pendants, pl.27, for similar applied rosettes; Williams, D. & Ogden, J., Greek Gold. Jewelry of the Classical World, New York, 1994, pp.116-117, pl.68, for an elaborate necklace with seed-like pendants; The Aidonia Treasure. Seals and Jewellery of the Aegean Late Bronze Age, Athens, 1996, pl.33, for the chain type.