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Lot 34

A large Etruscan amber bead

Antiquities
1 December 2020, 11:00 GMT
London, New Bond Street

£800 - £1,200

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A large Etruscan amber bead
Circa 6th Century B.C.
Discoid in form, centrally pierced for suspension, 4.4cm wide

Footnotes

Provenance:
Horatio and Patsy Melas collection, formed between 1960s to 1990s; and thence by descent to 2016.
London art market.

Amber was imported from the Baltic by the Etruscans as a precious material, valued for its beauty and rarity and regarded as a luxury item. Prized for its colour, it was also considered to have magical, amuletic and curative properties. Interestingly, a cache of similar large beads was excavated at the Temple of Artemis in Ephesus by the British Museum in 1907 (acc. nos. 1907,1201.496-7), suggesting the Archaic Greeks were similarly enthralled by amber jewellery.

Additional information

Bid now on these items

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