AN ANCIENT ROMAN GOLD NECKLACE, CIRCA 1ST-2ND CENTURY A.D.

拍品描述

AN ANCIENT ROMAN GOLD NECKLACE, CIRCA 1ST-2ND CENTURY A.D. Formed of a single continuous loop-in-loop chain in gold, the links drawn into fine wire and interlaced in the technique that produces the characteristic dense, flexible cord known in Roman jewellery as a foxtail or wheat plait. The chain tapers slightly along its length, the wirework retaining an even rhythm throughout. Each terminal is finished with a small collar or ferrule of sheet gold soldered around the gathered wire ends, from which issue on one side a plain hook and on the other a corresponding looped eye, together forming the simple hook-and-eye clasp standard to the type. The metal retains a warm, unabraded surface with the deep yellow tone characteristic of unalloyed or lightly alloyed Roman gold. The loop-in-loop chain is among the most technically demanding and widely admired achievements of ancient goldsmithing. Each link is drawn as a fine ring, folded, and threaded through its neighbour before soldering, so that a completed chain of this length represents many hundreds of individual operations. The result is a supple, almost textile-like cord that hangs and moves with the body. Chains of this construction are known across the Hellenistic and Roman worlds, produced in workshops from Alexandria and Antioch to the western provinces, and were worn both as independent ornaments and as suspensions for pendants, cameos, amulet capsules, or coin settings. Where the chain survives alone, as here, it is likely that any pendant element was removed in antiquity or lost in the ground. Gold in the Roman world was a material of legal as well as ornamental significance. Its use in personal jewellery was subject to sumptuary regulation under the Republic and was closely bound to status, dowry, and inheritance under the Empire. A gold necklace of this weight represented substantial value, and objects of this type appear consistently in the burial assemblages of women of the equestrian and senatorial classes as well as in the wealthier freedman households of the first and second centuries. The chain form was favoured precisely because it combined this material value with a discreet, wearable elegance suited to daily use, distinct from the heavier ceremonial collars of the eastern provinces. This necklace exemplifies the refined loop-in-loop chainwork that defined Roman personal ornament at the height of the Empire, in which technical virtuosity is expressed through restraint of form rather than through applied decoration. Its survival intact, with original clasp and even tension throughout the length, places it within the small group of Roman gold chains that remain functionally complete and wearable. Dimensions: Total Length: 53cm

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