.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
This necklace is composed of strip-twist wire links formed into a single loop-in-loop chain, joined at each end to a ribbed cylindrical terminal, one linked to the clasp, the other attached by means of a hooked wire. The clasp is a shallow sheet dome flanked by plain and beaded wire rings and a projecting flange, with a single granule at the joins to the terminals. Centered along the chain is a crescent pendant with large granules at the tips and on the suspension loop. A pear-shaped emerald bead with a wire threaded through its perforation, dating to the Byzantine period, hangs from the crescent.
For a related crescent pendant, see fig. 12.47 in J. Ogden, Jewelry Technology in the Ancient & Medieval World. For a necklace similarly composed of a single loop-in-loop chain joined to ribbed cylinders supporting a Medusa pendant, see no. 2737 in F.H. Marshall, Catalogue of the Jewellery, Greek, Etruscan, and Roman, in the Departments of Antiquities, British Museum. While the type was likely common throughout the empire, many examples have been found in Roman Egypt and they are frequently depicted on painted funerary portraits (see no. 212 in S. Walker and M. Bierbrier, Ancient Faces: Mummy Portraits from Roman Egypt).
For a related crescent pendant, see fig. 12.47 in J. Ogden, Jewelry Technology in the Ancient & Medieval World. For a necklace similarly composed of a single loop-in-loop chain joined to ribbed cylinders supporting a Medusa pendant, see no. 2737 in F.H. Marshall, Catalogue of the Jewellery, Greek, Etruscan, and Roman, in the Departments of Antiquities, British Museum. While the type was likely common throughout the empire, many examples have been found in Roman Egypt and they are frequently depicted on painted funerary portraits (see no. 212 in S. Walker and M. Bierbrier, Ancient Faces: Mummy Portraits from Roman Egypt).