Abbasid Gold Beaded Necklace with Bell and Coin Pendants, 900 BCE - 1100 CE
Gold
height 54 cm
height 21 1/4 in
height 21 1/4 in
OS.285
Jewellery is one of the most revealing of art forms, communicating us how people view themselves and what regard they held among their societies. The design and materials used throughout...
Jewellery is one of the most revealing of art forms, communicating us how people view themselves and what regard they held among their societies. The design and materials used throughout history in crafting jewellery speak volumes about the persons who wore them and the society in which they lived. The dominant influences in a civilization - religion, worldly wealth, intellectual or mundane concerns - is reflected in jewellery as well as the idiosyncrasy of the artisans who crafted them.
Jewellery is an important aspect of Islamic art and Islamic culture encouraged both men and women to wear jewellery, made remarkable more for its craftsmanship and design than for the use of precious stones. Although coin set necklaces were fashionable in later Islamic jewellery, coin-set ornaments are rare among jewellery of the Medieval Islamic Period. Medieval period necklace comprised of 18 pendants, 13 coins and 39 bi-conical spool-like elements. Particular attention has been paid to the structure and detail of each of the drop-shaped pendants separately, with a leaf-shaped element in relief on both sides, the lower edges enclosed by granulated decoration. Coins and pendants are suspended by separately crafted spherical attachments ending on a quatrefoil rosettes. The granulated decoration on the pendants and on each end of the bi-conical spools is rather unusual, finding parallels in Central Asian goldwork of the 11th-12th Century AD.
Evidence that pendants and coins were mounted at the same period is supported by the identical quatrefoil rosettes on each one of them. That pendants and bi-conical spools are meant to be together is equally obvious by the same granulated edging on both. The coins were minted in Merv (modern-day Turkmenistan), Madinat al-Salam (Baghdad) and Misr (Cairo), and are dated between 820 and 875 AD.
Assembling various components as to create a necklace is consistent with jewellery of the Medieval period in the Islamic world.
Admirable primarily for its excellence and beautifully realised design, the robustness and simplicity along the florid taste and opulence of the piece suggests a self-indulgence; such gold jewellery served not only as a spectacular form of personal adornment but also as an indicator of a person’s wealth and social standing.
Jewellery is an important aspect of Islamic art and Islamic culture encouraged both men and women to wear jewellery, made remarkable more for its craftsmanship and design than for the use of precious stones. Although coin set necklaces were fashionable in later Islamic jewellery, coin-set ornaments are rare among jewellery of the Medieval Islamic Period. Medieval period necklace comprised of 18 pendants, 13 coins and 39 bi-conical spool-like elements. Particular attention has been paid to the structure and detail of each of the drop-shaped pendants separately, with a leaf-shaped element in relief on both sides, the lower edges enclosed by granulated decoration. Coins and pendants are suspended by separately crafted spherical attachments ending on a quatrefoil rosettes. The granulated decoration on the pendants and on each end of the bi-conical spools is rather unusual, finding parallels in Central Asian goldwork of the 11th-12th Century AD.
Evidence that pendants and coins were mounted at the same period is supported by the identical quatrefoil rosettes on each one of them. That pendants and bi-conical spools are meant to be together is equally obvious by the same granulated edging on both. The coins were minted in Merv (modern-day Turkmenistan), Madinat al-Salam (Baghdad) and Misr (Cairo), and are dated between 820 and 875 AD.
Assembling various components as to create a necklace is consistent with jewellery of the Medieval period in the Islamic world.
Admirable primarily for its excellence and beautifully realised design, the robustness and simplicity along the florid taste and opulence of the piece suggests a self-indulgence; such gold jewellery served not only as a spectacular form of personal adornment but also as an indicator of a person’s wealth and social standing.