Διάτρητα: νέες προσθήκες

Abstract

This book, published in 1999, was intended to be both a study and a catalogue of the pierced-work jewellery known at the time, so that items subsequently coming to light could be attributed both chronologically and to their appropriate category. The following new items have been noted. A cross at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (fig. 1) is an exceptionally fine pendant ornament. The edging of beaded wire, the inscribed maltese crosses and the pierced-work scrolls with foliate finials point to a dating in the late 6th-early 7th century and a workshop probably in Constantinople. Two belt buckles (fig. 4), now in a private collection, come from Georgia. The dense, delicate workmanship of the maeander and quatrefoil motifs recalls the similar technique found on certain 5th-century jewellery. A ring (fig. 8) with pelta-shaped shoulders, auctioned at Christie's, dates from the 3rd century; another with a pierced-work band from the Belgrade Museum (fig. 9) has parallels from the 3rd and 4th centuries. A ring auctioned by Cahn (fig. 10), from around the 7th century, belongs to the category of calyx-shaped rings. Another, dating from the same period (Biblioteca Alexandrina, BAAM 1026) has a pierced-work band and a small oillamp on its bezel. A further item, from the Boston Museum of Fine Arts (fig. 12), is of the key-ring type and can be attributed to the 4th century along with other dated examples New earrings are restricted to the types with plain rosettes (Jumblatt Collection, Beirut [figs 13, 14] and Christie's [fig. 15]), and with rosettes with hanging pendants (figs 16, 17, 18). All date from the 3rd and 4th centuries. The second category constitutes lunate earrings either with confronted peacocks flanking a cross (Christie's [fig. 19]), or with foliate scrolls (Biblioteca Alexandrina, BAAM 1026 and Christie's [fig. 20]). All date from the 7th century.