Middle byzantine glass bracelets. Contribution to issues of distribution, production, typology and use

Abstract

The article discusses the dissemination, production, typology and use of glass bracelets. These pieces of jewellery, after their widespread use during the Roman antiquity, were limited in the Syria-Palestine region until the 8^th century. They reappeared in Byzantium from the 9^th till the 13^th century. It is suggested that the workshops of these pieces of jewellery were probably in Constantinople from where they diffused over the whole of the Byzantine territory. Their main features are their dark blue glass, their relief or painted decoration and their circular profile. The pictorial testimonies of women wearing bracelets should be regarded as factual evidence connected to sartorial configurations of their outfits.