Necklace

Gold Necklace

Related to necklaces MMA 15.95.134 through the filigree technique, to MMA 15.95.77 in its outlining by small pearls, and to MMA 19.111.1 in the character of the settings—including the incorporation of avian motifs—this necklace nevertheless gives, with its three-dimensional blimp-shape major elements, a very different effect. This basic form has an ancient history in Islamic and in pre-Islamic Indian jewelry, having often been used on bandoliers as amulet cases or ornaments resembling amulet cases.

Clusters of elements like those seen here, which are often encountered in the form of lac-filled hollow gold balls arranged in essentially the same manner as the round emerald beads, is a feature typical of and exclusive to several types of Indian jewelry, numerous examples of which are in the Museum's collection.

[Jenkins and Keene 1983]

Lockwood de Forest (American), New York (until 1915; sold to MMA)

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Islamic Jewelry in The Metropolitan Museum of Art," April 22–August 14, 1983, no. 62.

Jenkins-Madina, Marilyn, and Manuel Keene. Islamic Jewelry in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1983. no. 62, pp. 118–19, ill. (b/w).