Iran
Gold sheet, chased and set with turquoise, gray chalcedony, and glass; Large medallion: 2 7/8 x 2 3/4 in. (7.3 x 7 cm); Half medallion: 1 3/4 x 2 3/4 in. (4.4 x 7 cm); Cartouches: 3/4 x 1/2 in. (1.9 x 1.3 cm)
Rogers Fund, 1989 (1989.87al)
Few examples of jewelry from the Ilkhanid period have survived and it is usually difficult to date them. In this case, the decoration as well as technical details suggest a fourteenth-century attribution. Further evidence is offered by a similar necklace, composed of a large medallion and a series of cartouches, illustrated in a painting from the Great Mongol Shahnama that is datable to the 1330s.
It can be associated with that era because similar necklaces are depicted in Ilkhanid miniature paintings and because of the style of the animal design chased on the reverse of the two larger elements. It is clear from manuscript illuminations that the full medallion was worn in the center of the front of the necklace, that the half medallion most probably hung from a central back element, and that the cartouches helped to form the chain. The original number of cartouches comprising the necklace cannot be ascertained.














