pendant
- Museum number
- 1852,0626.1
- Description
-
Jet necklace pendant, oval, carved with a scene of of two cupids, probably making a pot. The figures are carved in high relief against a background deeply sunk into the body of the pendant. The outer arms of both figures are carved completely in the round. The cupid on the left bends forward and appears to hold the upper part of a baluster-shaped object set between the two figures, while the one on the right, in almost a squatting position, has his hands on an object at the top of the columnar feature. Oblique grooves forming a roped effect surround the scene, and the edge of the pendant, which is thicker at the top than the bottom, has a deep encircling groove. There is an integral suspension loop. The back of the pendant is smoothly polished, but has some marks and irregularities.
The design is usually interpreted as showing two cupids working at a potter's wheel, and this is very likely, since scenes depicting cupids as artisans were a standard theme in Roman art. It has also been suggested that the object between the cupids is a sack or other container from which an object is being extracted.
- Production date
- 2ndC-4thC
- Dimensions
-
Height: 51.50 millimetres
-
Length: 58 millimetres
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Weight: 18.29 grammes
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Thickness: 10 millimetres (Thickness varies from 10 mm at top to 6 mm at bottom)
- Curator's comments
- Large carved pendants in jet and related black materials were worn around the neck, probably suspended on ribbons, cords or fine leather thongs. Though the material and workmanship is British (in Roman times as in more recent periods jet was obtained from Whitby on the Yorkshire coast), the subjects of such pendants are normally purely classical.
The cupids on this pendant may well be throwing a pot on a potter's wheel, but it is difficult to be certain. Scenes showing cupids as artisans and craftsmen, carrying out everyday tasks, are common in Roman art. Several other large jet pendants from Britain are carved with the image of the gorgon Medusa, another traditional classical subject.
C. Johns, The jewellery of Roman Britain: Celtic and classical traditions (London, UCL Press, 1996), pp. 106-8, fig, 5.20
- Location
- On display (G49/dc11)
- Exhibition history
-
Exhibited:
2019-2020, 27 Jul-16 Feb, Colchester, Colchester Castle, Essex Bling
- Acquisition date
- 1852
- Department
- Britain, Europe and Prehistory
- Registration number
- 1852,0626.1