bracelet
- Museum number
- AF.351
- Description
-
Bracelet; gold; front opening on a hinge; hoop a band of open-work with plain tube edges; the design, beginning at the back of the hoop, consists of a pair of peacocks facing and separated by a vase; on each side of them a pair of facing swans, and at each end a peacock facing the front; all surrounded by scrolls and bands of open-work lozenges; the front a circular medallion, flanked by oblongs with two square settings, now empty; in the centre a bust of the Virgin in relief with hands raised; surrounded by borders of lozenges and scallops.
- Production date
- 600 (circa)
- Dimensions
-
Height: 43.50 millimetres (medallion)
-
Weight: 68.57 grammes
-
Width: 69.50 millimetres
-
Depth: 64.50 millimetres
- Curator's comments
- Published: A. Yeroulanou, 'Important Bracelets in Early Christian and Byzantine Art', in Chris Entwistle and Noel Adams (eds), 'Intelligible Beauty': Recent Research on Byzantine Jewellery, London, 2010, 45. pl. 19.
- Location
- On display (G41/dc13)
- Exhibition history
-
Exhibited:
2012-2013 11 Nov-25 Aug, USA, Art Institute of Chicago, Tradition Transformed: Late Roman and Early Byzantine Treasures from the British Museum
2010 26 Feb-13 Jun, Germany, Bonn, Kunst and Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Byzantium: Splendour and Daily Life
2009 20 Oct-2010 25 Jan, France, Paris, Galeries Nationales du Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais, De Byzance à Istanbul
2008 25 Oct-2009 22 Mar, London, Royal Academy of Arts, Byzantium 330-1453 AD
2000 16 Oct-2001 14 Jan, Greece, Athens, Benaki Museum, The Mother of God
- Acquisition date
- 1897
- Acquisition notes
- This bracelet is one of a pair reportedly found in Egypt and acquired by Alessandro Castellani: Catalogue des objets d'art antiques, du Moyen-âge et de la Renaissance dependant de la succession Alessandro Castellani et dont la vente aura lieu à Rome (Paris 1884) p.110 (lot 835). Its pendant was owned by Count Michel Tyszkiewicz and subsequently kept in the Gołuchów Castle (the collection of which was dispersed during World War II): W. Froehner, Collections du Château de Gołuchów: l'orfèvrerie (Paris 1897) pp.74-75, pl.xvii.120, cat.198.
- Department
- Britain, Europe and Prehistory
- Registration number
- AF.351