BM 136811
By kind permission of British Museum
- By kind permission of British Museum
- By kind permission of British Museum
DEPOSIT INFORMATION
| Deposit | London, The British Museum, BM 136811=1977,0226.13 |
| Notes | Purchased from Nicholas Wright. |
SUPPORT INFORMATION
| Support type | Artefact » Personal adornment » Appliqué |
| Material | Gold |
| Measures | h. 2, w. 1.9, th. 0.5, square ornament, wt. 3 g |
| Notes on support and decorations | Hollow square appliqué with four attachment loops on the plain reverse; the top is decorated with a row of five pointed granules, with a row of five spherical granules at the bottom and the face decorated with filigree strips and granulation. |
ORIGIN AND PROVENANCE
| Modern site | Unknown |
| Ancient site | Unknown |
| Geographical area | wādī Bayḥān |
| Country | Yemen |
| Link to site record |
NOTES
| Pair with 1977,0226.14. |
CULTURAL NOTES
The attachment loops implies that this object was an appliqué which was originally fastened to cloth or leather. This type of appliqué has a lengthy history on the Russian steppe but became more popular across the Near East
during and after the Achaemenid period. Here the decoration of filled triangles
framing irregular clusters finds a common parallel on other ancient South Arabian jewellery and even Nabataean painted pottery used in northern Arabia during the early centuries AD; this might suggest a date within
the 1st–3rd centuries AD for this particular appliqué.
The care with which this was made underlines the proficiency of ancient South
Arabian goldsmiths. The hollow spherical beads were made as a pair of hemispheres joined at the centre, a technique which relied on the use of a metal punch with a hemispherical tip to stamp tiny gold circles of gold
to an identical diameter and depth. The same technique was also used to make 4th century gold jewellery in Greece and Lydia (Williams and Ogden 1994: 156, no. 95; Özgen and Öztürk 1996: 223, no. 203), although there is no
evidence for a direct link between these and South Arabian craft traditions.
during and after the Achaemenid period. Here the decoration of filled triangles
framing irregular clusters finds a common parallel on other ancient South Arabian jewellery and even Nabataean painted pottery used in northern Arabia during the early centuries AD; this might suggest a date within
the 1st–3rd centuries AD for this particular appliqué.
The care with which this was made underlines the proficiency of ancient South
Arabian goldsmiths. The hollow spherical beads were made as a pair of hemispheres joined at the centre, a technique which relied on the use of a metal punch with a hemispherical tip to stamp tiny gold circles of gold
to an identical diameter and depth. The same technique was also used to make 4th century gold jewellery in Greece and Lydia (Williams and Ogden 1994: 156, no. 95; Özgen and Öztürk 1996: 223, no. 203), although there is no
evidence for a direct link between these and South Arabian craft traditions.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
| Simpson 2002: 121, cat.133, lowermost of the two illustrated objects | Simpson, St John (ed.) 2002. Queen of Sheba. Treasures from the ancient Yemen. London: British Museum Press. [Catalogue of an exhibition held at the British Museum, London] |
| Williams and Ogden 1994 | Williams, Dyfri and Ogden, Jack 1994. Greek Gold. Jewellery of the Classical World. London: British Museum Press. |
| Özgen and Öztürk 1996 | Özgen, Ilknur and Öztürk, Jean 1996. Heritage Recovered. The Lydian Treasure. Ankara: Ministry of Culture. |