A GREEK GOLD BRACELET
HELLENISTIC PERIOD, CIRCA 300 B.C.
Formed from a hollow hoop fashioned from sheet, convex on the exterior, each end with a collar terminal secured by a pin, its tip with granulation, the collars each with twisted wire filigree palmettes framed by beaded, rope and twisted wires and a fringe of petals, small birds at the outer edges of the left collar, a Herakles knot at the center formed from hollow tubes with applied twisted wire filigree tendrils along their lengths, all edged with beaded, rope and twisted wire, centered by a die-formed lion running to the left, a small frontal Pan seated to the left, playing the pipes
4 7/8 in. (12.3 cm) wideProvenance
with Nadia Kapamadji, Florange et Ciani, Paris, 1972.
Private Collection, Germany.
Acquired by the current owner, New York, 1999.Lot Notes
For a bracelet of similar construction compare the example said to be from Taranto, now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, no. 152 in D. Williams and J. Ogden, Greek Gold, Jewellery of the Classical World. The New York bracelet shares the same wide hoop, although ribbed on the exterior, with nearly identical collars similarly pinned in place, which are joined to lion heads rather than a Herakles knot as here. Herakles knots are frequently populated with applied figures; see for example the knot from a strap diadem centered by a figure of a siren, from Chersonesos, now in the Hermitage, no. 131, op. cit.
