Collection of European Bronze Age Jewelry

$2,000.00

Silver Hair Rings, Spiral Ornaments and Arm Bands

Circa 2nd Millennium B.C.

A varied collection of ancient silver personal ornaments comprising simple rings, multi turn spiral rings, coiled ornaments and larger spiral and annular forms traditionally associated with Bronze Age personal adornment. Comparable silver ornaments are quite well documented throughout prehistoric Europe. Archaeological literature identifies simple wire rings and multi-spiral rings among recognized forms of Bronze Age hair ornaments. A study of Early Bronze Age silver objects from southeastern Europe divides hair rings into simple circular, multi-spiral, and crescent-shaped forms. Significantly, examples recovered primarily around the skull have led archaeologists to interpret them as ornaments worn directly in locks of hair or attached to textile head coverings. The use of spiral forms for several different categories of personal ornament is likewise well attested. Research on the Bronze Age El Argar culture of southeastern Spain records silver personal ornaments including rings, spiral-based hair rings, armlets, and diadems. At El Argar Grave 292, for example, archaeological records describe a silver spiral found in contact with the jaw area, while a silver bangle and spiral arm ring were associated directly with the arm bones.

The present group displays the characteristic simplicity of much of these prehistoric precious metal jewelry. Silver itself held particular importance within a number of Bronze Age societies. In the El Argar culture, more than 700 silver objects have been documented, and silver ornaments became important components of funerary assemblages. Researchers have interpreted the possession and quantity of such objects as possible indicators of social differentiation and status. More broadly, George Eogan's study of European Bronze Age “hair-rings” argues that these relatively modest ornaments may have carried significance relating to social rank as well as wider networks of exchange.

Please Note individual pieces retain irregular surfaces, deformation, oxidation, deposits, and varied patination consistent with archaeological metalwork. The assemblage provides an attractive representation of the restrained geometric forms that characterized personal ornamentation across significant areas of Bronze Age Europe.

Silver Hair Rings, Spiral Ornaments and Arm Bands

Circa 2nd Millennium B.C.

A varied collection of ancient silver personal ornaments comprising simple rings, multi turn spiral rings, coiled ornaments and larger spiral and annular forms traditionally associated with Bronze Age personal adornment. Comparable silver ornaments are quite well documented throughout prehistoric Europe. Archaeological literature identifies simple wire rings and multi-spiral rings among recognized forms of Bronze Age hair ornaments. A study of Early Bronze Age silver objects from southeastern Europe divides hair rings into simple circular, multi-spiral, and crescent-shaped forms. Significantly, examples recovered primarily around the skull have led archaeologists to interpret them as ornaments worn directly in locks of hair or attached to textile head coverings. The use of spiral forms for several different categories of personal ornament is likewise well attested. Research on the Bronze Age El Argar culture of southeastern Spain records silver personal ornaments including rings, spiral-based hair rings, armlets, and diadems. At El Argar Grave 292, for example, archaeological records describe a silver spiral found in contact with the jaw area, while a silver bangle and spiral arm ring were associated directly with the arm bones.

The present group displays the characteristic simplicity of much of these prehistoric precious metal jewelry. Silver itself held particular importance within a number of Bronze Age societies. In the El Argar culture, more than 700 silver objects have been documented, and silver ornaments became important components of funerary assemblages. Researchers have interpreted the possession and quantity of such objects as possible indicators of social differentiation and status. More broadly, George Eogan's study of European Bronze Age “hair-rings” argues that these relatively modest ornaments may have carried significance relating to social rank as well as wider networks of exchange.

Please Note individual pieces retain irregular surfaces, deformation, oxidation, deposits, and varied patination consistent with archaeological metalwork. The assemblage provides an attractive representation of the restrained geometric forms that characterized personal ornamentation across significant areas of Bronze Age Europe.

Total Weight: 422.66 grams (271.78 dwt)

Provence:

Freemen & Hindman Auction Sale 1315, lot 63

Property from the Collection of Curator and Scholar Sidney M. Goldstein

Alfred Wolkenberg (1911-1990), New York, 1960s-1970s.

Dr. Sidney M. Goldstein is a distinguished scholar and curator specializing in ancient and Islamic glass. He served as a curator at the Corning Museum of Glass from 1973 to 1983 before joining the Saint Louis Art Museum, where he became Associate Director and Curator of Ancient and Islamic Art and remained until his retirement in 2009. Over the course of his career, Goldstein published extensively on ancient glass and material culture, including Pre-Roman and Early Roman Glass in the Corning Museum of Glass (1979) and Glass: From Sasanian Antecedents to European Imitations (2005).