Details

LOT 0551

Iron Age Celtic Gold Bracelet with Zoomorphic Ornament

4TH CENTURY BC

3 3/4" (113 grams, 92mm).

A substantial gold penannular bracelet with bulb terminals; the outer surface ornamented in relief, divided into panels separated by bulbs and bands of ornament; the central section with spiral band of coiled tendrils with facing male masks and billets between; raised acanthus-based patterns to the outer faces; bulb finials segmented with scroll detailing.

Provenance

Property of a UK gentleman; acquired from a London gallery in the late 1980s; formerly from a private European collection, formed in the 1960s and 1970s. Accompanied by X-Ray Fluorescence metal analysis certificate number 00944-2018CJ, and a statement of opinion from Striptwist Ltd, a London-based company run by historical precious metal specialist Dr Jack Ogden.

Literature

Cf. similar ornament on a torc recovered from Tomb 2 at Santa Paolina di Filootrano, Ancona, Italy in Moscati, S. (ed.) I Celti, Milan, 1991, p.202.

Footnotes

The palmette leaf design is directly copied from Greek art (see Stead, I. M. and Rigby, V., The Morel Collection, London, 1999, item 1723 for similar), where it appears frequently, as here, as the termination feature at the foot of a design.

CONDITION