HELLENTISTIC PERIOD, CIRCA 4TH CENTURY B.C.

The splendid ibex-headed bracelets presented here are each composed of a slightly tapering hollow tube formed from sturdy gold sheet, with the unsoldered seam running along the length of the interior. Each end is inserted into a cylindrical collar decorated with a band of petals and S-spirals of filigree beaded wire. The petals may once have been embellished with enamel, now lost. The ibex heads are soldered to the collars, their details worked freehand. Each has a chased spiraling star motif on the forehead. The sheet gold ears were made separately and soldered in place, as were the long horns of tapering beaded wire, their length extending back, their tips soldered to the hoop. They are similar in weight: one at 65.3 gr., and one at 63.9 gr.

Greek gold jewelry often feature animal head terminals, including lions, calves, rams and ibexes, as seen here. The earliest Greek examples are from the Archaic Period, but the type increased dramatically in popularity during the Hellenistic Period on account of the volume of gold brought to Greece following Alexander’s conquests. For an early Greek example with lion head terminals, circa 560 B.C., see no. 82 in Deppert-Lippitz, Griechischer Goldschmuck. For a similar pair but with spiral-fluted rather than smooth hoops, see pl. XIX in Deppert-Lippitz, op. cit., and for another pair, found at Pasargadae, in Iran, but clearly the work of a Greek artisan, see pl. 152 in Curtis and Tallis, Forgotten Empire, The World of Ancient Persia.