6 Ancient Bronze Pendants / Beads, Luristan Melon Beads, Roman Mask

Near East, Persia, Luristan; Roman; Byzantine. A group of six small cast pendants and beads spanning three ancient worlds. Three spherical and melon-fluted beads from Luristan, two of them looped for suspension and one pierced through, are cast of bronze and leaded bronze, their ribbed bodies still carrying earthen green and gray patina. From the Roman sphere come a tiny leaded bronze maskette with knobbed features and a suspension perforation, and a high-tin bronze weight of pale silvery color, its metal alloyed roughly half copper to half tin. The Byzantine contribution is a slender leaded bronze cross with flaring arms and a pierced upper terminal, worn smooth to a sandy ocher surface. Amulets, adornments, and reckoning tools alike, these are the portable currency of daily belief and exchange, sized for the neck, the wrist, or the purse. Melon and fluted spherical beads are a persistent form across the Persian highlands, cast in multiple-piece molds and strung with metal, faience, and stone companions in composite necklaces recovered across the Luristan region. The Byzantine cross pendant belongs to the vast body of small personal crosses worn as apotropaia by lay Christians, mass-produced in cast series and often finished by hand at the arms and suspension loop. The alloy range in this group is instructive in itself: high-tin bronze, at nearly equal parts copper and tin, produces a pale, bell-like, brittle metal favored for objects meant to be weighed and to ring true, while heavily leaded bronzes were poured for detail-rich small castings where fluidity in the mold mattered more than strength. Please note that items in this lot contain up to 28% lead and are not recommended for wear. A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany all winning bids. Item # 204629

Estimation:€222.87

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