collar

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Object Type
Museum number: 1900,0727.1
Description: Gold collar. It was made from three circular sectioned and tapering gold bars that are fused at the ends forming a penannular neck-ring. A rectangular catch- plate is attached by hooks and close the collar. Two separately formed 'cups' of gold, each with an internal spike and moulding are riveted at either side of the collar. The bars are finely decorated with a complex incised geometric pattern. The decoration consists in series of triangles (dog's tooth design), parallel lines, rhombus shaped and zig-zag motifs located in the central part of the collar. A band of parallel lines and triangles decorate the terminals of the collar in the proximity of the cups. The catch- plate is decorated with five ribs, three of them have incised oblique lines.
Cultures/periods
Production date: 1250BC-800BC (circa)
Findspot: Excavated/Findspot: Sintra, Possibly found accompanied by human bones in a ditch grave.
Materials
Technique: cast; lost-wax cast; soldered; perforated; incised; riveted
Dimensions: Diameter: 19.11 millimetres (cup a); Diameter: 18.84 millimetres (cup b); Diameter: 20.32 millimetres (cup c); Diameter: 19.36 millimetres (cup d); Diameter: 134.58 millimetres (lower maximum); Diameter: 134.58 millimetres (lower minimum); Diameter: 124.21 millimetres (upper maximum); Diameter: 119.40 millimetres (upper minimum); Length: 77.27 millimetres (catch-plate); Weight: 1254.80 grammes; Thickness: 11.92 millimetres (body centre); Thickness: 6.42 millimetres (body end); Thickness: 3.06 millimetres (catch-plate); Thickness: 1.39 millimetres (cup a); Thickness: 1.45 millimetres (cup b); Thickness: 1.42 millimetres (cup c); Thickness: 1.36 millimetres (cup d); Width: 37 millimetres (body centre); Width: 17.69 millimetres (body end); Width: 21.31 millimetres (catch-plate)
Curator's comments: The Sintra collar or torc is unique due to the three tapering bars fused at each end as well as the catch-plate and accompanying hooks. The decoration is however paralleled in contemporary torcs found in Spain such as Sagrajas, Badajoz (Perea 1991, 100-101). References Perea, A. 1991. Orfebreria Prerromana: arqueologia del oro. Madrid: Casa del Monte Note from the object file: 'three men working in a stone quarry in the Casal Amaro parish of Santa Maria, near Cintra, Portugal, declared having found on 26th March 1878 in the hollow of a stone in the said quarry a gold article of the shape of a bracelet, and the quarry being the property of Mr Joaquim Paulo, the latter said the three labourers were paid for their share of finding the said article a certain amount that was agreed upon between them'
Bibliographic references: Hawkes 1971 / The Sintra Gold Collar; Armbruster 1995 / Sur la Technologie er la Typologie du Collier de Sintra (Lisbonne, Portugal) – Un Œuvre d’Orfèvrerie du Bronze Final Atlantique compose des types Sagrajas-Berzocana et Villena-Estremoz.; Blurton 1997 / The Enduring Image: Treasures from the British Museum (161); Armbruster & Perea 2009 / Évolution des Formes et des Techniques dans l’Orfèvrerie à la Fin de l’Âge du Bronze Atlantique et au Début de l’Âge du Fer dans la Péninsule Ibérique.; Murgia et al 2014 / European Bronze Age Gold in the British Museum (3.11.1.1)
Location: Not on display
Exhibition history: Exhibited: 2012-2013 Nov-Mar, Bonn, Kunst- und Ausstellungshalle, Treasures of the World's Cultures 2012 Mar-Jul, Abu Dhabi, Manarat Al Saadiyat, Treasures of the World’s Cultures 1998 9 Feb-3 May, India, Mumbai, Sir Caswasjee Jahangir Hall, The Enduring Image 1997 13 Oct-1998 5 Jan, India, New Delhi, National Museum, The Enduring Image 1995 Feb-Dec, Lisbon, Museu Nacional de Arqueologia, A Idade do Bronze Europeu Has mount.
Acquisition name
Acquisition date: 1900
Department: Britain, Europe and Prehistory
Registration number: 1900,0727.1
Conservation

Free entry

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