Ancient Roman Woman’s Necklace with Glass Beads

£ 950.00

A fine Ancient Roman gold necklace, featuring a delicate gold chain, embellished by flattened figure of eight-like beads, alternated with green and white glass paste beads. The necklace, a choker-type, is centred by a single white glass bead, displaying a beautiful mother of pearl like iridescence. Chokers of this type were worn exclusively by women across the Roman Empire. The necklace is secured to the back with a hook-type fastening. Weight: 2.9 g.

Date: Circa 1st Century BC -3rd Century AD
Provenance: Ex private London collection, A.H. collection.
Condition: Fine, majority of the original glass beads missing. The piece is suitable for modern wear, with care. The measurements provided refer to the folded necklace.

SOLD

Product Code: RES-110
Category: Tag:

As in many ancient societies, jewellery was an important social marker used to demonstrate wealth. As a result of the expansion of the Roman Empire, Roman jewellery became more and more elaborate in its designs and materials used, such as precious and semi-precious gemstones. Glass especially, was used to embellish and decorate different pieces of jewellery. Both Roman men and women wore elaborate jewellery, however, chocker necklaces, such as this fine example, were worn exclusively by Roman women. Funerary portraits recovered from the Egyptian city of Faiyum, demonstrate how the fashion of wearing chokers, together with amuletic necklaces and earrings, was widespread across all the Roman Empire.

To discover more about jewellery in the Ancient World, please visit our relevant post: Jewellery in Antiquity.

Dimensions L 15.5 cm
Metal

Gold

Glass

Glass Paste

Region

Southern Europe

Reference: For a similar item, The Metropolitan Museum, item 20.239.

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