Details

LOT 0573

Roman Bronze Bracelet Group

1ST-4TH CENTURY A.D.

2 1/2 in. (68 grams total, 64-65 mm).

Comprising five with round-section bodies and squared terminals; the surfaces decorated with engraved lines and dots. [5, No Reserve]

Provenance

From the family collection of a Surrey gentleman since before 1960.

Literature

Cf. Boucher, S., Inventaire des Collections Publiques Françaises - 17 Vienne: Bronzes Antiques, Paris, 1971, pp.118-119, nos.125-126, for similar specimens.

Footnotes

Bracelets were worn in Rome by ladies of rank, but it was considered a mark of effeminacy for civilian men to use such female ornaments (Suetonius, Caligula, 52; Nero, 30). The armillae (or psellia in Greek) were rings and bracelets worn by women in the Graeco-Roman world on both legs and arms. Homer mentions them (elikas) as being part of the hairstyle of the divine Aphrodite, thus giving an almost sacred character to these objects. There were different types, the most common consisting of a more or less thick metal wire, or a flat or cylindrical circle, like our examples.