Techniques: Granulation

Granulation is a process that causes very small gold beads to adhere to the surface metal, through heat, with no apparent solder. The technique has been known since Etruscan times and was revived in the 19th century. Learn more.

Byzantine Bracelet with Grapevine Pattern

Bracelet with Grapevine Pattern
Date: late 6th–early 7th century
Geography: Made in possibly Constantinople
Culture: Byzantine
Medium: Gold – sheet, rod; engraved; wire – plain, beaded; granulation; strip – triangular sectioned.
Dimensions: Overall: 2 1/4 x 1 7/16 x 2 5/16 in. (5.7 x 3.7 x 5.9 cm) Wt: 74g strap: 7/8 x 5 1/2 in. (2.3 x 14 cm)
Classification: Metalwork-Gold
Credit Line: Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917

Provenance
Cyprus Treasure, found at Karavas, Cyprus, 1902; J. Pierpont Morgan, London and New York (until 1917)

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Roman Gold and Emerald Bracelet

Roman bracelet with emeralds; found in Cologne, the Rhineland or other selected locations across Europe.

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Etruscan Revival Gold Plaque Bracelet

Gold bracelet, Giacinto Melillo, 1870s
Designed as nine hinged plaques applied with filigree, granulation and bead work in the Etruscan style, length approximately 195mm, signed GM for Giacinto Melillo, fitted case stamped Giacinto Melillo.

Literature
Cf: Charlotte Gere, et al., The Art of the Jeweller, A Catalogue of the Hull Grundy Gift to the British Museum: Jewells, Engraved Gems and Goldsmiths Work, London, 1984, pgs. 149-151, plate 959 for illustrations of a similar design by Alessandro Castellani.

Cf: Geoffery C. Munn, Castellani and Giuliano, Revivalist Jewellers of the Nineteenth Century, London, 1984, pgs. 88 and 93 for references to these jewels.

Cf: David Bennett and Daniela Mascetti, Understanding Jewellery, Suffolk, 1994, pg. 238 for an illustration of a similar bracelet by Melillo.

Cf: Daniela Mascetti and Amanda Triossi, Earrings from Antiquity to the Present, London, 1999, pgs. 28-29 and 101, for illustrations of the Etruscan ‘baule’ earrings and their consequent 19th century counterparts.

Catalogue Note
Giacinto Melillo (1845-1915) became the director of the Castellani jewellery store in Naples in 1870, at the age of 25. While relatively young, Melillo’s natural ability surpassed his age. The bracelet design was used by both Alessandro Castellani and Giacinto Melillo who signed with their respective initials ACC and GM. It is believed that the original inspiration for these plaques came from the discovery of fragments of Etruscan ‘baule’ earrings, popular between 700-500 BC. The Melillo bracelets were heavier than the Castellani versions due to the addition of gold plaques, applied with a four-petal flower motif to the reverse.

Source link (Sotheby’s, Magnificent Jewels and Noble Jewels, 13 May 2014, Geneva)

Cypriot Gold Pendant

Gold pendant with granulated ornament

Period: Late Bronze Age
Date: ca. 1400–1050 B.C.
Culture: Cypriot
Medium: Gold
Dimensions: L. 1 5/16 in. (3.3 cm)
Credit Line: The Cesnola Collection, Purchased by subscription, 1874–76
Provenance: From Cyprus

Source link, The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Greek Gold and Garnet Siren Earring

A GREEK GOLD AND GARNET EARRING WITH SIREN – HELLENISTIC PERIOD, CIRCA 4TH-3RD CENTURY B.C.

Auction House: Christie’s
Sale Title: Antiquities
Location: London, King Street
Sale Date: Apr 02, 2014
Lot Number: 0193

Estimate: 1,000 – 2,000 British pounds
Price Realized: Unsold
Saleroom Notice: This Lot is Withdrawn.

Lot Description
A GREEK GOLD AND GARNET EARRING WITH SIREN
HELLENISTIC PERIOD, CIRCA 4TH-3RD CENTURY B.C.
The hoop, of spiralling wire tapering to plain wire, set with three globular garnets interspaced with gold beaded wire and granulated collars with zigzag edges, with bare-breasted winged Siren with outstretched talons
1 ¼ in. (3.3 cm.) wide

Provenance: Private collection, UK, acquired 1950s; and thence by descent.
London art market.

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Greek Gold Bracelet

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) wide

Provenance
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.

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Persian Turquoise Bangle

A Seljuk turquoise-set gold Bangle
Persia, 12th Century

The ridged, triangular section box-construction shank terminating in a double lion-head clasp and two set oval turquoises, the pyramidic bezel set with a glass rectangle and flanked by two set circular turquoises, a pin fitting at the base of the bezel, the shanks decorated with raised quatrefoils flanked by inscription-filled cartouches, all edges with granular decoration.

Inscriptions: repeat of al-‘izz al-da’im wa al-iqbal wa al-dawlat wa …., ‘Perpetual Glory and Prosperity and Wealth and …’

For a similar bangle in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, see M. Jenkins and M. Keene, Islamic Jewellery, New York, 1982, no. 25; for a pair of bangles, see Bonhams, Islamic and Indian Art, 24th April 2002, lot 325; and for a pair of bangles made for a child, see Christie’s, Islamic Art and Indian Miniatures, 28th April 1998, lot 363).

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Castellani Scarab Bracelet

Place of origin:
Rome, Italy (made)

Date:
500-300 BC (made) — scarabs
before 1925 (made) — bracelet

Artist/Maker:
Castellani (bracelet, maker)

Materials and Techniques:
Gold decorated with applied wirework and granulation, mounted with four carnelian scarabs

Museum number:
M.35-2001 (V&A Museum, London)

This bracelet may have been in the Castellani firm’s stock for a number of years as the business was winding down in the 20th century.

Ancient beads, scarabs and engraved gemstones from excavations were an essential element of jewellery made in the archaeological style. Mounted in gold, they were densely set in necklaces, bracelets, brooches, earrings or rings.

Castellani, the leading jewellers in Rome, acquired ancient stones in great quantities from many sources. The scarcity of scarabs caused Augusto Castellani to comment in 1862 that their high price ‘impelled the moderns to counterfeit them. And they so perfected this trade that the most experienced eye can barely discover the deception’.

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