The medallions and hoops of these handsome bracelets were worked by tracing the design onto a gold sheet and then punching holes in the background to reveal the pattern of small doves.
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This artwork is meant to be viewed from right to left. Scroll left to view more.
Detail-Back of bracelet band
Detail-Lion's head terminal of screw attachment
Left: 17.190.1668, right: 17.190.1669
Left: 17.190.1668, right: 17.190.1669
Artwork Details
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Title:Bracelet (one of a pair)
Date:ca. 400
Geography:Made in probably Rome
Culture:Byzantine
Medium:Gold
Dimensions:2 11/16 × 2 5/16 × 1 13/16 in. (6.8 × 5.9 × 4.6 cm) Other (strap): 6 1/8 in. (15.5 cm) Other (weight): 0.4 lb. (0.2 kg)
Classification:Metalwork-Gold
Credit Line:Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917
Object Number:17.190.1668
Found near Assiut.; J. Pierpont Morgan (American), London and New York (until 1917)
Archäologische Staatssammlung - Museum für Vor- und Frühgeschichte. "The World of Byzantium," October 21, 2004–April 3, 2005.
London. Royal Academy of Arts. "Byzantium, 330-1453," October 25, 2008–March 22, 2009.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Jewelry: The Body Transformed," November 12, 2018–February 24, 2019.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Africa & Byzantium," November 13, 2023–March 3, 2024.
Cleveland Museum of Art. "Africa & Byzantium," April 14–July 21, 2024.
Dennison, Walter. Studies in East Christian and Roman Art: Part II, A Gold Treasure of the Late Roman Period. University of Michigan Studies, Humanistic Series, Vol. 12. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1918. no. 26, 27, pp. 97, 155–57, pl. XLVIII.
Heurgon, Jacques. Le trésor de Ténès. Paris: Arts et Métiers Graphiques, 1958. pp. 48–50, pl. XXVII, 2–5.
Lepage, Claude. "Les Bracelets de Luxe Romains et Byzantins du IIe au VIe Siècle. Étude de la Forme et de la Structure." Cahiers Archéologiques 21 (1971). pp. 17, 19, fig. 29.
Brown, Katharine R. Byzantine Studies Conference Abstracts of Papers. Madison, Wisconsin: Byzantine Studies Conference, 1982. pp. 48–57.
Durand, Jannic, ed. Byzance: L'Art Byzantin dans les Collections Publiques Françaises. Paris: Musée du Louvre, 1992. p. 127.
Geroulanou, Emilia. Diatrita: Gold Pierced-Work Jewelery from the 3rd to the 7th Century. Athens: Benaki Museum, 1999. no. 225, pp. 155, 179, 244, fig. 288, 341.
Brown, Katharine R., Dafydd Kidd, and Charles T. Little, ed. From Attila to Charlemagne: Arts of the Early Medieval Period in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York and New Haven: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000. p. 65, 341, fig. 7.8.
Wamser, Ludwig. Die Welt von Byzanz : Europas östliches Erbe: Glanz, Krisen und Fortleben einer tausendjährigen Kultur. Stuttgart: Archäologische Staatssammlung - Museum für Vor- und Frühgeschichte, 2004. no. 502, p. 304.
Stone, Elizabeth Rosen. "An Early Image of Maitreya as a Brahman Ascetic?." Metropolitan Museum Journal 42 (2007). pp. 68–9, fig. 23.
Cormack, Robin, and Maria Vassilaki, ed. Byzantium 330–1453. London: Royal Academy of Arts, 2008. no. 140, p. 414, ill. pp. 180–81.
Geroulanou, Emilia. "Common Elements in 'Treasures' of the Early Christian Period." In Byzanz – das Römerreich im Mittelalter: Volume 1, Welt der Ideen, Welt der Dinge, edited by Falko Daim, and Jörg Drauschke. Mainz: Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum, 2010. pp. 343–44, fig. 10.
Holcomb, Melanie, ed. Jewelry: The Body Transformed. New Haven: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2018. no. 95, pp. 117–18, 266, pl. 95.
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