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Clothing attachment with bands of vegetal ornament
Greek
Hellenistic Period
about 200 B.C.
Medium/Technique
Gold
Dimensions
Diameter: 3.5 cm.
Credit Line
Helen and Alice Colburn Fund
Accession Number1972.201
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsJewelry, Ancient Greece and Rome
ClassificationsJewelry / Adornment – Earrings, flares, plugs, studs
DescriptionOne of a group of three votive "shields" or discs, probably for attachment to clothing (see 1972.200 and 1972.202). This shield is decorated with four concentric bands of running ornment in filigree wire around a central rosette in two layers. The inner layer of the rosette has ten petals, the outer twelve. Band 1: ten tightly wound S-spirals. Band 2, laurel or live wreath with circles between each pair of leaves. The left branch has nine pairs of leaves, the right eight pairs. The branches spring from a cluster of four laurel leaves and terminate in an ivy leaf. Band 3 is a vine with undulating stem with spiral branchings. Rings (indicating calyces) circle the points of branching, and buds spring out between the branchings. Band 4 is a braid. Beaded wire forms the shield's border. A loop in center back is for attachment.
ProvenanceBy date unknown: with Robert E. Hecht, Jr.; April 12, 1972: purchased by MFA from Robert E. Hecht, Jr.