Bracelet

1 of 1

Artist
Name	Unknown
Basic Info
Period	Iron Age
Created in	Ancient & Byzantine World, Europe
Century	1st millennium BCE
Culture	Celtic
Dimensions	1.2 x 7.2 cm (1/2 x 2 13/16 in.)
Harvard Museum
Department	Department of Ancient and Byzantine Art & Numismatics
Division	Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact	am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu

Context

This bracelet is decorated with twelve raised bead shapes. The sides of the beads are decorated with what appear to be incised wavy lines, but these are fairly worn. Between each bead is a saddle shape. The terminals, which do not join, flare into hollow drums (1). 
 
NOTES:
 
1. The bracelet is identical to 2002.60.19, and its decoration is similar to, although less elaborate than, that of 1992.312, 1992.313, 1992.314, and 1992.315. For general discussion of the use of simple bracelets in the ancient world, see C. Johns, The Jewellery of Roman Britain (London, 1996) 118-20.
 
Lisa M. Anderson

TechnicalDetails

Chemical Composition

Technical Observations

Both bracelets (2002.60.19 and 2002.60.20) are decorated by a repeated nodular band made to look like a sequence of alternating rounded and cylindrical concave beads, and with larger slightly hollowed cup-like elements at each end, which face each other but are not joined. 
 
Both bracelets (2002.60.19 and 2002.60.20) have a mottled dark brown, green, and red patina, with green and red corrosion pustules and in some cases corresponding pits, all of which are convincing signs of antiquity. Each bracelet was cast in one piece. Exactly how the models were shaped is not clear, but the forms do seem to have been modeled in the wax. The surfaces are very worn, but some decorative patterns are preserved: crescent-shaped and curved line impressions on the rounded parts, and rounded punch marks on some of the beaded areas. It is not clear whether the decorations were made in the wax or the metal. 
 
Francesca G. Bewer (submitted 2012)

Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Bequest of W.C. Burriss Young