Ensemble of Hellenistic gold jewellery
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Object number
AR2888
| Object: |
Ensemble of Hellenistic gold jewellery
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| Material: |
Gold.
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| Period: |
Around 300 BC. Hellenistic period. |
| Description: |
This high quality ensemble of gold jewellery from the Hellenistic period was probably part of a burial. It consists of three elements, a necklace, a pendant and a pair of earrings. The pendant might have been the central piece of the necklace or a piece of hair decoration resting on the forehead.
Necklace The necklace has 82 ancient lentil shaped gold beads strung in more recent times. 39 of those beads have a rigid connection to a small amphora shaped pendant each. Two terminal shells of hollow conical shape are at the ends of the strand of beads. Their outer surface is richly ornamented. What is characteristic is the amphora shaped small pendants. Higgins book mentioned below contains a good treatise on their development of style. The shape seen here is an intermediate step in this development that can be attributed to the time since around 300 BC. The terminal conoid beads are already known from the classical period, but also fit quite well in the later Hellenistic period judging from their ornamentation. Earrings Each one has an abundantly decorated rosette at its centre. The rear side of the discoid rosette has a hook soldered to it for mounting the earring. The front side is decorated by a triple rosette with a fitting in the centre made of wound gold sheet (the fitting is missing for one of the earrings). The rim of the disc is adorned by a twisted wire. An amphora is connected to the disc via two loops. It has a pedestal foot and two handles, the body is elaborately made of thin gold sheet and twisted wire. A gap between two halfs of the amphora body was either once filled by a bead that is now missing or it was stitched together. Pendant A disc symbolizes the sun disc. It is adorned by 12 concentrical circles of filigree wires. The centre is covered by a boss with a rosette of six petals on it. Three double spiral decorations surround the petal. A crescent moon is set on top of the sun disc formed by a square profile thick wire. Its tails are set with a pyramidal cluster of gold spheres resembling grapes. A rosette with six petals sits above each bunch of grapes. A loop is mounted at the center of the crescent to thread the pendant. The piece is a variant of the crescent shaped pendants known as lunulae that were fashionable in Hellenistic times. The type originates from the Orient and made it to ancient Greece in the 7th century BC by means of the Phoenician tradespeople. After losing popularity for several centuries lunulae were revived around 300 BC. |
| Background: |
Ensemble or pasticcio? So is jewellery from a single find or mixed together later? This is the most enthralling question for the group. Considering the modern archaeological dating of the individual pieces we are in favour of "ensemble"! But this was not always the situation. In the first written acknowledgment of this set of gold jewellery in 1906 the author W. Lerman is assuming not only a group but a complete group. He dates the pieces a little bit earlier to the 5th century BC. 76 years later Dr. Hamdorf dates the necklace and the earrings to around 300 BC in his 1982 written assessment. However, he assumes the pendant with disc and crescent was made 500 years later during Roman times. He speaks about similar pieces that already existed in the early Hellenistic period, but finally points to a reference piece in the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe in Hamburg Germany (inventory no. 1892, 125/6). This lunula pendant in the Hamburg Museum is the key to the ensemble or pasticcio question. Hoffmann and von Claer dated that piece to the Roman Imperial period in their 1968 catalogue. And ideed it was a type often modified and still produced in Roman times. However, Deppert-Lippitz dated the exact same piece to the 3rd to 2nd century BC with the state of the archaeological sciene in the year 1985. With the revised dating of the pendant it all fits together again and reaffirms the early 20th century assessment of the group. At that time all elements were strung together on the same twine and the knot was sealed with wax. The pieces were probably seen as a belonging group in the 19th century. Even if the find situation was unfortunately not handed down we speculate that everything was bought as one group belonging together and is indeed from a single find. There are many similar groups known from Hellenistic burials. The disc with crescent was then either the pendant for the necklace or part of an additional hair jewellery and placed on the forehead. |
| Dimensions: |
Earrings approx. 40mm long each. Lunula pendant 22mm wide. The beads of the necklace strung at a length of approx. 190mm. All together approx. 35g weight including twine.
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| Condition: |
Great condition.
The necklace consists of 82 gold beads, 39 beads with amphora shaped pendants and 43 beads without pendant. For one amphora shaped bead the tip is missing. The earrings have small pieces missing in the gold sheet. But that does not distrub the overall impression. A mount of gold sheet is missing in the centre of one of the dicoid rosettes. A bead might have been inside of each amphora originally and is now missing, it could also be that the two halfs of the amphorae got separated and were once stitched together. Possibly the grapes/beads at one tip of the lunula pendant have been restored. |
| Provenance: |
Acquired by us in 2019 on the German art market. Previously in a German family collection since the 19th century. The ensemble was investigated in 1982 by Dr. Friedrich Wilhelm Hamdorf of the Staatliche Antikensammlungen und Glyptothek Muenchen (State Collections of Antiquities and Sculptures in Munich Germany). We have a copy of his written statement.
Another investigation was made in 1906 by Dr. Wilhelm Lerman from Munich, Germany. We have a copy of his written statement, as well. It was made for Franz von Loeher (1857 to 1917) who inherited the jewellery from his father. The father, also by the name of Franz von Loeher (1818 to 1892), appearently bought the ensemble and was a connoisseur of ancient art. Professor Dr. Franz von Loeher (1818 to 1892) was a German historian and politician. His wide academic interests lead to a number of occupations and engagements. He was active in the society for ancient history in Westphalia, was a member of the historical commission of the bavarian academy of science, director of the bavarian state archive and professor for literary studies and ethnographic studies. He ventured numerous international voyages and it is well possible that he brought back this group of jewellery from one of them. At the end of his career he had to abandon his official functions because his previous work for king Ludwig II of Bavaria was heavily criticized after the kings deposition. Von Loeher bequeathed accounts of his journeys to Cyprus, Crete, the Greek coast, Sicily and Naples. The 1906 written account on this group of jewellery mentions reference pieces from Cyprus which von Loeher saw as close parallels. This object has been searched for in the database of ArtLoss, comprising more than 500.000 objects claimed stolen or lost. It also integrates the databases of Interpol and FBI. An ArtLoss certificate comes with this artefact. |
| References: |
For the necklace: Cf. F. H. Marshall, Catalogue of the Jewellery Greek, Etruscan & Roman in the Departments of Antiquities British Museum, pl. XXXIV, no. 1948 for beads with amphora shaped pendants. Cf. R. A. Higgins, Greek and Roman Jewellery, p. 168 and pl. 49 for beads with amphora shaped pendants. Cf. B. Deppert-Lippitz, Griechischer Goldschmuck, p. 166 for the beads. Cf. Gold der Thraker, Archäologische Schätze aus Bulgarien, colour plate on page 155 and p. 163, no. 323, for very similar conoid terminal beads from 350 to 300 BC. For the earrings: Cf. H. Hoffmann and V. von Claer, Antiker Gold- und Silberschmuck, p. 102, no. 66. Similar F. H. Marshall, Catalogue of the Jewellery Greek, Etruscan & Roman in the Departments of Antiquities British Museum, pl. LI, no. 2332. Similar B. Deppert-Lippitz, Griechischer Goldschmuck, p. 265, no. 197. For the pendant: Cf. H. Hoffmann and V. von Claer, Antiker Gold- und Silberschmuck, p. 63f, no. 42 and p. 82, no. 53. And for a more recent dating of the exact same pendant cf. Deppert-Lippitz, Griechischer Goldschmuck, p. 220, no. 156 and p. 222. Cf. F. H. Marshall, Catalogue of the Jewellery Greek, Etruscan & Roman in the Departments of Antiquities British Museum, pl. LXVIII, no. 2930. |
| Authenticity: |
We unconditionally guarantee the authenticity of every artefact, all items are subject to our lifetime return policy on authenticity.
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