Bead with figure of Harpokrates

Ptolemaic or Roman Period
100 BC–100 AD
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 134
Gold glass beads were a Hellenistic development. They were created by combining drawn tubes of colorless glass with gold foil. The earliest examples were finished bead by bead. These are all modern stringings; most ancient stringing patterns are lost as the string decays.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Bead with figure of Harpokrates
  • Period: Ptolemaic or Roman Period
  • Date: 100 BC–100 AD
  • Geography: From Egypt
  • Medium: glass, gold foil
  • Dimensions: H. 2.9 × W. 1.3 cm (1 1/8 × 1/2 in.)
  • Credit Line: Gift of Helen Miller Gould, 1910
  • Object Number: 10.130.2476
  • Curatorial Department: Egyptian Art

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