These elaborately decorated bracelets have richly jeweled exteriors and finely detailed opus interrasile patterns on their interiors. The luminous beauty of pearls was highly prized in the Byzantine world.
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Dimensions:Overall: 1 7/16 x 3 1/4 in. (3.7 x 8.2 cm) strap: 15/16 x 7 7/8 in. (2.4 x 20 cm) bezel: 1 5/16 in. (3.4 cm)
Classification:Metalwork-Gold
Credit Line:Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917
Object Number:17.190.1670
Said to have been found near Assiut or Antinoe, near Nile (Upper Egypt); [ Maurice Nahman, Cairo (sold 1912)]; J. Pierpont Morgan (American), London and New York (1912–1913)
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Age of Spirituality: Late Antique and Early Christian Art, Third to Seventh Century," November 19, 1977–February 12, 1978.
London. Royal Academy of Arts. "Byzantium, 330-1453," October 25, 2008–March 22, 2009.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Byzantium and Islam: Age of Transition," March 14–July 8, 2012.
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.
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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. 28, 29, pp. 97, 157–59, pl. XLIX.
Breck, Joseph, and Meyric R. Rogers. The Pierpont Morgan Wing: A Handbook. 2nd ed. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1929. p. 40.
Peirce, Hayford, and Royall Tyler. L'art Byzantin. Vol. 2. Paris: Librarie de France, 1934. pp. 135–36, pl. 200a–b.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Mediaeval Jewelry: A Picture Book. New York: Museum Press Limited, 1940. pl. 1.
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Wagner de Kertesz, Margarita. Historia Universal de las Joyas. Buenos Aires: Ediciones Centurion, 1947. p. 266.
Schlunk, Helmut. "The Crosses of Oviedo: A Contribution to the History of Jewelry in Northern Spain in the Ninth and Tenth Centuries." The Art Bulletin 32 (June 1950). p. 98 n. 48.
Ross, Marvin C. Catalogue of Byzantine and Early Mediaeval Antiquities in the Dumbarton Oaks Collection. Volume 2: Jewelery, Enamels and Art of the Migration Period. Vol. 2. Washington, D. C.: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, 1965. p. 47.
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. 19–20, fig. 33.
Brown, Katharine R. "The Mosaics of San Vitale: Evidence for the Attribution of Some Early Byzantine Jewelry to Court Workshops." Gesta 18, no. 1 (1979). p. 58, fig. 5.
Weitzmann, Kurt, ed. Age of Spirituality: Late Antique and Early Christian Art, Third to Seventh Century. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1979. no. 300, pp. 323–24.
Brown, Katharine R. Migration Art, A.D. 300-800. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1995. pp. 16, 49–51, fig. 12.
Geroulanou, Emilia. Diatrita: Gold Pierced-Work Jewelery from the 3rd to the 7th Century. Athens: Benaki Museum, 1999. no. 228, pp. 64, 101, 245, fig. 90, 175.
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. pp. 71, 341, fig. 7.15.
Evans, Helen C., Melanie Holcomb, and Robert Hallman. "The Arts of Byzantium." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, n.s., 58, no. 4 (Spring 2001). pp. 19, 26.
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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. 352–53, fig. 22.
Evans, Helen C., and Brandie Ratliff, ed. Byzantium and Islam: Age of Transition, 7th–9th century. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2012. p. 126, fig. 54.
Dospěl Williams, Elizabeth. "Into the Hands of a Well-Known Antiquary of Cairo: The Assiut Treasure and the Making of an Archaeological Hoard." West 86th: A Journal of Decorative Arts, Design History, and Material Culture 21, no. 2 (2014). fig. 5, pp. 257, 259.
Holcomb, Melanie, ed. Jewelry: The Body Transformed. New Haven: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2018. no. 94, pp. 117–18, 266, pl. 94.
Hope, Deborah. "Pearls Found in Ancient Greek and Roman Contexts in the Mediterranean." Mediterranean Archaeology 32/33 (2019/2020). pp. 46, 80, pl. 10, fig. 5.
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