armlet

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Object Type
Museum number: 122023
Description: Copper alloy armlet; cast; two pairs of projecting studs.
Findspot: Found/Acquired: Yemen
Materials
Technique
Dimensions: Diameter: 11.50 centimetres (exterior); Diameter: 9.50 centimetres (interior); Weight: 339.30 grammes; Thickness: 1 centimetres
Curator's comments: An armlet is shown worn high on the right arm of the seventh/sixth-century bc bronze from the Awwam temple at Marib (see Simpson StJ 2002, cat. 25). However, anklets were also worn, judging by contemporary depictions on sculptures and al-Hamdani's reference to the alleged discovery of a tomb containing the corpse of a woman wrapped in her shrouds. On her ankles were two anklets of red gold. After he [the commander of the royal mint] had removed them, he buried the corpse. When weighed, the anklets held the scale at a hundred miskals [4.8 g]' (Faris 1938a, 96).; Bowers catalogue entry Armlet or anklet Bronze diameter (ext.) 11.5 cm, diameter (int.) 9.5 cm, thickness 1 cm; 339.3 g weight ANE 1930-6-13,19 = 122023 Presented by Mrs H.C. Gowan Cast bronze armlet with two pairs of projecting studs; an armlet is shown worn high on the right arm of the c. 6th century BC bronze statue of Madikarib from the Awwam temple at Marib. However, anklets were also worn, judging by contemporary depictions on sculptures and al-Hamdani’s reference to the alleged discovery of a tomb containing “the corpse of a woman wrapped in her shrouds. On her ankles were two anklets of red gold. After he [the commander of the royal mint] had removed them, he buried the corpse. When weighed, the anklets held the scale at a hundred miskals [4.8 g]” (al-Iklil VIII.179 = Faris ed. 1938, 96).
Bibliographic references: Simpson 2002a / Queen of Sheba: Treasures from Ancient Yemen (p.123, cat.139); Hall H R 1930c / Other donations to the Egyptian and Assyrian Department (p. 49) (note on the acquisition of the collection); Lombardi 2016 / South Arabian Funerary Stelae from the British Museum Collection (132)
Location: Not on display
Exhibition history: Exhibited: 2002 5 Jun-13 Oct, BM, 'Queen of Sheba: Treasures from ancient Yemen' 2004-2005 17 Oct-13 Mar, California, Bowers Museum, 'Queen of Sheba: Legend and Reality'
Condition: Some old scratches and surface abrasion.
Acquisition name
Acquisition date: 1930
Acquisition notes: Collection presented in 1929 (Book of Presents, item 1492); reported to Trustees 11 June 1930; no correspondence found in ANE for 1930.
Department: Middle East
BM/Big number: 122023
Registration number: 1930,0613.19
Conservation

Free entry

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