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 1/2 x 3 1/4 in. (3.8 x 8.2 cm) strap: 7/8 x 7 11/16 in. (2.3 x 19.5 cm) bezel: 1 5/16 in. (3.4 cm)
Classification:Metalwork-Gold
Credit Line:Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917
Accession Number:17.190.1671
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.
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.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Africa and Byzantium," November 13, 2023–March 3, 2024.
Cleveland Museum of Art. "Africa and Byzantium," April 14–July 21, 2024.
Dennison, Walter. A Gold Treasure of the Late Roman Period from Egypt. Studies in East Christian and Roman Art, Vol. 2. London and New York: University of Michigan Studies-Humanistic Series, 1918. no. 28, 29, pp. 157–61, fig. 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.
Tyler, Royall, and Hayford Peirce. L'art Byzantin. Vol. 2. Paris: Librarie de France, 1934. no. 200, pp. 135–36, fig. 200a–b.
Rorimer, James J. Medieval Jewelry: A Picture Book. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1944. fig. 1.
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.
Rorimer, James J., and William Holmes Forsyth. "The Medieval Galleries." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, n.s., 12, no. 6 (February 1954). p. 126.
Grabar, André, and Vanoest. "Les Bracelets de Lux Romains et Byzantins du II au VI Siècle. Étude de la Forme et de la Structure." Cahiers Archéologiques 21 (1971).
Weitzmann, Kurt. "The Late Roman World." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, n.s., 35, no. 2 (Autumn 1977). no. 52, p. 57, fig. 52.
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. 323–324.
Husband, Timothy B., and Charles T. Little. Europe in the Middle Ages. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1987. no. 24, pp. 34–35.
Brown, Katharine R. Migration Art, A.D. 300-800. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1995. pp.16, 49–51, fig. 12.
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. 71, 341, fig. 7.14.
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). p. 19.
Cormack, Robin, and Maria Vassilaki, ed. Byzantium 330–1453. London: Royal Academy of Arts, 2008. no. 142, pp. 182, 414, ill. p. 182.
Yeroulanou, Aimilia. "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. 352–353, 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.
Holcomb, Melanie, ed. Jewelry: The Body Transformed. New Haven: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2018. no. 94, pp. 117–18, 266, pl. 94.
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