Roman glass bead necklace

Culture

Roman, 200 B.C.-300 A.D.

Size

38 cm long

Provenance

Dutch private collection, Ex Bonhams

Walter Thomas Gaze Cooper (1895-1981) collection; and thence by decent to the previous owner

Fernie Collection 1913-1914

Description

Roman glass bead necklace. The Roman glass beads interspersed with hard stone beads, the glass with some nice iridescence. Variety of different colors. 

Attached an old collection label: ‘No. 19 Fernie Collection 1913, found at Rhodes’. 

Roman glass and stone beads were widely used from roughly the 1st century BC to the 4th century AD as personal adornment, trade items, and objects with symbolic meaning. Glass beads were made from silica (sand), soda (natron), and lime, with metallic oxides added for color (copper for blue or green, manganese for purple, iron for brown).  Glass beads came in many shapes: spherical, cylindrical, barrel-shaped, melon-shaped, and faceted. Glass beads were lightweight and brightly colored, making them ideal for necklaces, bracelets, earrings, clothing decoration, and amulets.  

The production of stone beads involved shaping and drilling with bow or tubular drills, polishing for smooth surfaces, and sometimes engraving them with symbols. 

Condition

Well preserved, restrung. 

Price

€ 400