- Museum number
- 1872,0604.815
- Description
-
Gold diadem of twisted ribbons with a Herakles knot. The arms of this unusual diadem consist of three long sheets of gold twisted to form ribbons. The central ribbon has a rosette on each frontal plane: the petals are convex with spiral-beaded wire borders and contain traces of enamel. The terminals take the form of simple sheet-gold caps with spiral-beaded and plain wires around the edge. The rings attached to the top edge of the terminals are modern: the remains of the original loops have been filed off.
In the centre is a Herakles knot with a circular garnet in the very middle. The bands of the knot are decorated with seven twisted wire ropes and six small rosettes, their petals filled alternately with green and blue enamel. A spiral of thick plain wire lies at each corner of the joint between knot and collar. The collars are decorated with spiral-beaded, plain and rope filigree. In addition, there are three rows of scales, alternately filled with green and blue enamel. At the junction with the twisted ribbons there is a row of cut-out darts.
- Production date
- 300BC-280BC
- Dimensions
-
Length: 27.90 centimetres
-
Weight: 32.70 grammes
- Curator's comments
- Williams and Ogden 1994
This is a particularly remarkable diadem. The twisted ribbons are most closely paralleled on what are normally considered to be a pair of armbands in the British Museum. They are in fact most probably the flanking parts of a very similar diadem, bent to form bracelet-like elements, with consequent deformation of the ribbons (the lion-head terminals probably belong and may have framed a central Herakles knot, as on Hermitage x.1899.7; Williams & Ogden 131). Single twisted ribbons also occur on a series of armbands.
The garnet may be a replacement.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: BMCJ 1607; Higgins GRJ2, pl. 45 A; Seven Thousand Years of Jewellery, fig. 186 (opp. p. 85); Pfrommer, pl. 9, 3 (HK 31). Bracelets: BMCJ 1991-2. Single twisted ribbons: (Mottola armband) Deppert-Lippitz, fig. 168; (Mt Pangaion armband) Greifenhagen I, pl. 12, 2, now lost; (von Aulock hoard armbands) Baltimore, no. 267.
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
Exhibited:
1990 24 Mar-10 Jun, Australia, Canberra, National Gallery of Australia, Civilization: Ancient Treasures from the British Museum, cat. no.60
1990 28 Jun-23 Sep, Australia, Melbourne, Museum of Victoria, Civilization: Ancient Treasures from the British Museum, cat. no.60
2010 30 Apr-30 Aug, Seoul, National Museum of Korea, The Body Beautiful in Ancient Greek Art and Thought
Exhibited:
2009 2 Apr-13 Oct, Alicante, The Body Beautiful in Ancient Greek Art and Thought
2010 30 Apr-30 Aug, Seoul, National Museum of Korea, The Body Beautiful in Ancient Greek Art and Thought
2010-2011 15 Oct-07 Feb, Taipei, The National Palace Museum, The Body Beautiful in Ancient Greek Art and Thought
2010-2011, 11 Mar-12 Jun, Kobe City Museum, The Body Beautiful in Ancient Greek Art and Thought
2011, 4 July-25 Sept, Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, The Body Beautiful in Ancient Greek Art and Thought
2011-2012, 25 Oct-12 Feb, Mexico City, National Anthropological Museum, The Body Beautiful in Ancient Greek Art and Thought
2012-2013 6 Oct-6 Jan, Portland Art Museum, The Body Beautiful in Ancient Greek Art and Thought
2013, 6 May–6 Oct, Dallas Museum of Art, The Body Beautiful in Ancient Greek Art and Thought
2014, 21 Feb-9 Jun, Fondation Pierre Gianadda, The Body Beautiful in Ancient Greek Art and Thought
2014, 2 Aug–9 Nov, Bendigo Art Gallery, Victoria, Australia, The Body Beautiful in Greek Art and Thought
- Acquisition date
- 1872
- Department
- Greek and Roman
- Registration number
- 1872,0604.815
