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Torque necklace
Near Eastern, Anatolian
Bronze Age
about 2400 B.C.
Medium/Technique
Gold
Dimensions
11.6 x 14.2 cm (4 9/16 x 5 9/16 in.)
Credit Line
Centennial purchase with funds donated by Landon T. Clay
Accession Number68.125
CollectionsJewelry, Asia, Ancient Greece and Rome
ClassificationsJewelry / Adornment – Necklaces and neck bands
DescriptionTorque necklace formed of six rows of twisted wire flattened at each end into four bands and looped over. Wires twist in alternate directions. These ornaments appear to have formed the burial jewelry of a high-born woman, not unlike the gold treasures found by Heinrich Schliemann at Troy in 1878. Certain Egyptian motifs suggest commerce and sea ties between Egypt and coastal Asia Minor in the mid-third millennium BC.
Provenance1968, sold by George Zacos (dealer), Basel, Switzerland, to the MFA. (Accession Date: April 10, 1968)