A GREEK GOLD STRAP NECKLACE
A GREEK GOLD STRAP NECKLACE
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PROPERTY FROM A SWISS FAMILY COLLECTION
A GREEK GOLD STRAP NECKLACE

HELLENISTIC PERIOD, CIRCA LATE 4TH CENTURY B.C.

Details
A GREEK GOLD STRAP NECKLACE
HELLENISTIC PERIOD, CIRCA LATE 4TH CENTURY B.C.
9 ½ in. (24.1 cm.) long
Provenance
Ernst Kofler-Truniger (1903-1990) and Marthe Kofler-Truniger (1918-1999), Luzern, acquired by 1960 (Inv. no. K 728 X).
Private Collection, Luzern, acquired from the above circa 1974; thence by continuous descent to the current owner.
Literature
K. Schefold, Meisterwerke griechischer Kunst, Basel and Stuttgart, 1960, pp. 310-312, no. 573.
Sammlung E. und M. Kofler-Truniger, Luzern, Zurich, 1964, p. 41, no. 393, pl. 30.
H. Hoffmann and P.F. Davidson, Greek Gold: Jewelry from the Age of Alexander, Boston, 1965, pp. 115-116, no. 35.
Exhibited
Basel, Kunsthalle, Meisterwerke griechischer Kunst, 19 June-13 September 1960.
Zurich, Kunsthaus, Sammlung E. und M. Kofler-Truniger, Luzern, 7 June-2 August 1964.
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; The Brooklyn Museum; Richmond, The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Greek Gold: Jewelry from the Age of Alexander, 22 November 1965-1 May 1966.

Brought to you by

Hannah Fox Solomon
Hannah Fox Solomon Head of Department, Specialist

Lot Essay

The strap necklace with beech-nut pendants along its length was one of the most popular necklace types beginning in the late 4th century B.C. Related examples have been found throughout the Greek world, including at Corinth (G.R. Davidson, Corinth: Results of Excavations conducted by The American School of Classical Studies at Athens, vol. XII, The Minor Objects, pl. 109) in Macedonia, at Kyme (Asia Minor) and on the northern coast of the Black Sea (D. Williams and J. Ogden, Greek Gold Jewellery of the Classical World, nos. 30, 53, & 106). Similar necklaces are painted on the bodies of black-glazed pottery (see for example the Attic calyx-krater, no. 118 in B. Deppert-Lippitz, Griechischer Goldschmuck). The present example has a strap of interlinked loop-in-loop chains supporting 54 beech-nut pendants, each suspended from a rosette joined to the lower edge of the strap. Each end of the hook-and-loop closure is adorned with a palmette.

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