A Gold Necklace with Emeralds and Garnets
Roman, 1st century A.D.
Gold, Garnet, Emerald
Height: 2.5 cm (middle part with lunula pendent)
Length: 25.3 cm (ancient part)
Length: 43.9 cm (total)
Price on Request
Net for Export
The gold necklace consists of two strands, each composed of several twisted and intertwined gold wires, terminating at both ends in gold-sheet collars. Two soldered loops, each fitted with a ring, allowed the necklace to be lengthened as required by the wearer using an additional element. Three gold-sheet settings are attached between the two necklace strands by means of hinged fittings. The central and larger setting holds an oval garnet cabochon and terminates at its lower end in a small crescent-shaped gold-sheet pendant with a garnet inlay. Each of the two lateral settings holds an emerald cabochon. The necklace is currently extended on both sides by modern chains in 750 gold, fitted with a lobster clasp. Fine traces of corroded iron on the reverse of the crescent-shaped pendant, small chip to its garnet inlay; otherwise intact.
PROVENANCE
Formerly London art market. Thereafter, priv. coll. Theodore Sarmas (b. 1938 - d. 2018), collection formed between 1960s-1970s; gifted in the 1990s to the last owner.
NOTE
Cf. L. Pirzio Biroli Stefanelli, L’oro dei Romani. Gioielli di età imperiale (Rome 1992), 157 no. 163; 246 f. no. 116; 108 f. nos. 72–73. The design of the chain strands can already be documented in the Hellenistic period; cf., for example, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, inv. no. 1994.230.4 (Late Hellenistic, with animal protomes).