Among the Germanic peoples neck rings were worn by both men and women. The considerable weight—101.5 grams—indicates that this piece probably belonged to someone of high status.
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Artwork Details
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Title:Gold Neck Ring
Date:5th century
Culture:East Germanic
Medium:Gold
Dimensions:Overall: 5 13/16 x 1/4 in. (14.7 x 0.6 cm)
Classification:Metalwork-Gold
Credit Line:Fletcher Fund, 1927
Object Number:27.122.16
C.A. Lembessis, Paris (sold 1927)
Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique. "L'Art Merovingien," February 26–May 15, 1954.
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.
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.
Menghin, Wilfried, Tobias Springer, and Egon Wamers, ed. Germanen, Hunnen und Awaren: Schätze der Völkerwanderungszeit. Nuremberg: Germanisches Nationalmuseum, 1987. no. I.19, p. 114.
Brown, Katharine R. Migration Art, A.D. 300-800. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1995. no. 22, p. 26.
Brown, Katharine R. "If Only the Dead Could Talk: An Update on the East German and Hunnish Jewelry Collections at the Metropolitan Museum of Art." In Ancient Jewelry and Archaeology, edited by Adriana Calinescu. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1996. pp. 230–31, fig. 11.
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. 103, 357, fig. 10.1.
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