This pendant, which would have originally been strung closely with perhaps nine others to form a flat, collar-like necklace, comes from the grave of a sixth-century Ostrogothic woman in Domagnano, Italy. It was discovered by a farmer in 1892, and subsequently sold off to several different collectors. All the pieces from the find exhibit the same characteristics: almost pure gold, into which various cloisonné fillings are set—such as pearl, colored paste, lapis lazuli, and of course garnets like the ones shown here.
The importance of this piece, apart from its beauty, lies in the fact that it proves not only the presence of the Goths in northern Italy around the year 500, but also some degree of settlement there by them—to the extent of burying their dead in the area.
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Dimensions:Overall: 1 3/4 x 9/16 x 1/4 in. (4.4 x 1.4 x 0.7 cm)
Classification:Metalwork-Gold
Credit Line:Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917
Object Number:17.190.698
Found in Domagnano, San Marino.; J. Pierpont Morgan (American), London and New York (until 1917)
Germanisches Nationalmuseum. "Germanen, Hunnen und Awaren: Schätze der Völkerwanderungszeit," December 12, 1987–February 21, 1988.
Museum für Vor- und Frühgeschichte, Archäologisches Museum. "Germanen, Hunnen und Awaren: Schätze der Völkerwanderungszeit," March 13–May 15, 1988.
Palazzo Pergami-Belluzzi. "I Goti a San Marino: il tesoro di Domagnano," June 4–September 5, 1995.
Kárász, Leo. "Aranykincs a Népvándorlás Korából." Archaeologiai Értesítő 16 (1896). pp. 121–27, fig. 3–5.
Smith, Reginald A. "The Cesena Treasure." The British Museum Quarterly 8, no. 1 (July 1933). pp. 45–46, pl. 13.
Kühn, Herbert. "Ein Stück des Cesena-Fundes im Metropolitan-Museum in New York." Ipek 11 (1936–37). pp. 141–42, taf. 27.
Rupp, Hertha.
Die Herkunft der Zelleneinlage und die Almandin-Scheibenfibeln im Rheinland. Rheinische Forschungen zur Vorgeschichte, Vol. 2. Bonn: L. Röhrscheid, 1937. p. 59.
Kühn, Herbert. "Die grossen Adlerfibeln der Völkerwanderungszeit." Ipek 13–14 (1936–37). p. 141.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Mediaeval Jewelry: A Picture Book. New York: Museum Press Limited, 1940. pl. 10.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Mediaeval Jewelry: A Picture Book. 2nd ed. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1944. pl. 10.
Wagner de Kertesz, Margarita. Historia Universal de las Joyas. Buenos Aires: Ediciones Centurion, 1947. p. 291.
Hachmann, Rolf. Die Germanen. Archaeologia Mundi, Vol. 5. Munich: Wilhelm Heyne, 1971. pp. 138, 198 n. 135, fig. 135.
Bierbrauer, Volker. "Die ostgotischen Funde von Domagnano, Republik San Marino." Germania 51 (1973). pp. 499–523.
Roth, Helmut. Kunst der Völkerwanderungszeit. Propyläen Kunstgeschichte, Vol. 4. Berlin: Propyläen-Verlag, 1979. p. 162, pl. 75a, b.
Kidd, Dafydd. "Some New Observations on the Domaganono Treasure." Anzeiger des Germanischen Nationalmuseums (1987). pp. 129–40, fig. 1b, 11.
Brown, Katharine R. Migration Art, A.D. 300-800. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1995. no. 23, 24, pp. 27–28.
I Goti a San Marino: il tesoro di Domagnano. Milan: Electa, 1995. no. 2, pp. 50–59, ill.
Pedini, Maria Lea. "Domagnano: Il Tesoro dei Goti." L’Ospite 9, no. 9 (May 1996). pp. 10–13, ill. p. 13.
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. 136, 341, fig. pl.5b, 12.3.
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