LOT 0095

Roman Gold Necklace Element and Earring Set

2ND CENTURY A.D.

11 7/8 x 9 1/4 in. (1 1/2 in.) (435 grams total, display stand: 30 x 23.5 cm (earrings: 38 mm each)).

A suite of gold and garnet jewellery, comprising a matching pair of gold earrings, each composed of a hollow crescentic body tapering to slender coiled wire terminals, a suspension loop to each shoulder, large tear-shaped cell to front with granulated border, set with a polished garnet cabochon, gold bulbs below in the form of a bunch of grapes, adorned with smaller granules and three cells set with polished garnet cabochons; the necklace elements comprising graduated beads, alternating between roughly spherical polished garnets and sheet-gold beads of various types including gusseted, biconical and tubular, two floral filigree pendants flanking a central pendant ornamented with 'plaited' and plain filigree wire with granules to the outside, finial of trefoil bulbs, central corrugated cell set with a polished garnet cabochon; mounted on a custom-made perspex display base. [3]

Ex private European collection, 1970s.
with Genève Enchères, 14 December 2017, Lot 999.

Accompanied by an academic report by Dr Raffaele D’Amato.
This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.11584-199015.

Cf. Marshall, F.H., Catalogue of the Finger Rings, Greek, Etruscan and Roman, in the Department of Antiquities, British Museum, London, 1907, no.2714; D’Ambrosio, A., Gli ori di Oplontis, Napoli, 1987; Pirzio Biroli Stefanelli, L., L’oro dei Romani, gioielli di etá imperiale, Roma, 1992; Humar, M., 'Gioielli Castellani, collezione e manifattura' in Vespertilla, Anno XI. no.5, Settembre-Ottobre 2014, p.47.

Beryls, used as small pendants, and not placed horizontally, characterised Roman necklaces of 2nd century A.D. A typical example is the necklace found in the grave of Crepereia Tryphaena. The contents of the grave are dated to the Antonine age based on the sarcophagus, the inscription and the hairstyle of the doll it contains.