Roman, late Republic to early Imperial period, ca. 1st century BCE to 2nd century CE. Wow! An incredibly-preserved 14 karat gold pendant made by weaving golden granules over a cloth interior. The pendant hangs from a woven gold chain. The pendant is roughly fleur-de-lis-shaped, with three arms, the central one the longest, with a large gold granule attached to its tip. The open ends of the two shorter arms suggest that they once had similar granules. A spool-shaped gold bead is above the pendant, with a brown-grey ceramic seed bead above it; these three pieces are strung through a thick gold wire, which is curved into a loop and wrapped around itself. That loop has a tightly woven gold chain through it, which has one side of its clasp remaining. The clasp is made of a hollow, teardrop-shaped gold bauble with a very narrow gold wire loop through its top. Length of strand: 13.35" L (33.9 cm); size of pendant: 0.7" W x 1.6" H (1.8 cm x 4.1 cm); 10.3 grams total weight

In the first century CE, Pliny the Elder wrote that gold could be spun and woven like wool (Natural History, 33.19.61). The "toga picta" was a purple garment with woven gold borders that Roman generals wore during a triumphal parade, and Julius Caesar adopted this as part of his regular dress, leading subsequent consuls and emperors to adopt the same for state occasions. For example, Emperor Commodus was buried in silk woven with gold thread (how the silk got there from China is another interesting story!). Emperor Elagabalus wore a tunic made entirely of woven gold, and was heard to complain that he felt oppressed by the weight of his pleasures. However, many of the creations made from woven gold were subsequently melted down to recover the raw metal, so finding one preserved is remarkable!

Provenance: private East Coast, USA collection

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#133113

One end of the chain/clasp is lost; the chain is fragile and has some small bends along its length. This chain is not wearable. The pendant is probably missing two granules and has some tiny bends to it, but could be wearable with a different chain.