Egypt/Syiria
3rd century AD
Gold with stone inlays, carnelian, green beryl, prase
Height 5.37 cm ( 2 1⁄8 in )
Width 5.45 cm ( 2 1⁄8 in )
Former private collection Hamburg, Germany, acquired at Kunstmesse München in 1960; by decent from the above
Stadtluft, Schmuck aus Zentren der Welt, 10th April - 1st November 2015, Schmuckmuseum Pforzheim, 2015
Stadtluft, Schmuck aus Zentren der Welt, 10th April - 1st November 2015, Schmuckmuseum Pforzheim, 2015
A. Eastmond & P. Stewart: The Road to Byzantium: Luxury Arts of Antiquity, Fontanka Publishers London 2006
M. Fortin: Syrien – Wiege der Kultur, Sonderaustellung im Antikenmuseum Basel, Philipp von Zabern, Mainz 1999
This bracelet has a wide open-worked hoop and a centrepiece on two tripartite hinges closed with pins. The centrepiece of the bezel is an oval cabochon inlay of banded carnelian with the cat-off top, forming a small oval surface. On the four sides of the central setting, soldered in cross-shaped order, are four smal- ler settings of rectangular shape with inlays of green beryl. Two rectangular bands form the hoop. Each is decorated with ten pelta-shaped elements, half of them each orientated to the nearest end of the hoop.
This piece belongs to a group of exquisite arm ornaments of the late antique period, which are characterized by a central ornament that is hinged to a hoop, and that consists of an arrangement of settings with precious or semiprecious stones and their imitations in glass. They are found exclusively worked in gold as well as with colored inlays.