Roman gold and emerald necklace
Gold and emerald necklace: the necklace is composed of twenty-one emerald beads of varying size, though all in their natural hexagonal crystalline form, alternating with gold links. These links are flat quatre-foils made up of two figure-eight shapes soldered together. The form is probably intended to evoke a stylised knot of Hercules. The gold links are about 6.5 mm long. The clasp is of simple hook-and-eye form: the 'eye' is of twisted wire. At the hook end two gold links are placed together without an emerald between.
Emerald necklaces are worn by several women appearing in portraits of second-century date from Hawara and other Fayum sites. Often they are worn as part of an ensemble of necklaces, the others perhaps plain gold bands or chains to maximise the impact of the emeralds (e.g. British Museum 1994,0521.10). Gold and emerald necklaces remained in fashion throughout the Empire from the first to the fourth centuries AD. Many combine emerald beads with very simple gold links, but examples from the third-century Gaulish hoards from Vaise (Lyon, Rhone) (Lascoux et al. 1994, 20) and Eauze (Gers, Midi-Pyrenees) (Schaad 1992, 17, no. 1, pl. 1a) feature elaborate three-dimensional Hercules-knot links between the emeralds, while emerald beads alternating with lengths of standard loop-in-loop gold chain occur in the third-century treasure of Beaurains (Arras, Pas-de-Calais) (Bastien and Metzger 1977, B.I) and in the late fourth-century Romano-British treasure from Thetford (Norfolk) (Johns and Potter 1983, no. 31).
Roman
2nd-3rd century CE
From Egypt?
British Museum (1814,0704.1203)
Roman gold and emerald necklace
Gold and emerald necklace: the necklace is composed of twenty-one emerald beads of varying size, though all in their natural hexagonal crystalline form, alternating with gold links. These links are flat quatre-foils made up of two figure-eight shapes soldered together. The form is probably intended to evoke a stylised knot of Hercules. The gold links are about 6.5 mm long. The clasp is of simple hook-and-eye form: the 'eye' is of twisted wire. At the hook end two gold links are placed together without an emerald between.
Emerald necklaces are worn by several women appearing in portraits of second-century date from Hawara and other Fayum sites. Often they are worn as part of an ensemble of necklaces, the others perhaps plain gold bands or chains to maximise the impact of the emeralds (e.g. British Museum 1994,0521.10). Gold and emerald necklaces remained in fashion throughout the Empire from the first to the fourth centuries AD. Many combine emerald beads with very simple gold links, but examples from the third-century Gaulish hoards from Vaise (Lyon, Rhone) (Lascoux et al. 1994, 20) and Eauze (Gers, Midi-Pyrenees) (Schaad 1992, 17, no. 1, pl. 1a) feature elaborate three-dimensional Hercules-knot links between the emeralds, while emerald beads alternating with lengths of standard loop-in-loop gold chain occur in the third-century treasure of Beaurains (Arras, Pas-de-Calais) (Bastien and Metzger 1977, B.I) and in the late fourth-century Romano-British treasure from Thetford (Norfolk) (Johns and Potter 1983, no. 31).
Roman
2nd-3rd century CE
From Egypt?
British Museum (1814,0704.1203)