Byzantine Jewelry | 3 Bronze Cuff Bracelets + 2 Finger Rings, Medieval

Eastern Mediterranean, Byzantine Empire. A group of five personal ornaments cast and worked in copper alloy, comprising three open-ended penannular bracelets and two finger rings, their surfaces deepened by centuries of burial into mottled greens and earthen browns. Two bracelets are slender rods tapering toward their terminals, while a third is a broader tubular hoop of hollow section. The rings echo the same repertoire: one a flat band, the other a tubular loop of leaded bronze. The penannular form, worn slightly open so it could be sprung onto wrist or finger, was a staple of Byzantine adornment across social strata, valued for its simplicity and its subtle apotropaic resonance. Unpretentious yet intimate, such pieces accompanied their wearers in daily life and, often, into the grave, surviving as quiet testaments to the everyday elegance of the medieval Eastern Mediterranean. The penannular (open-ended) bracelet endured for centuries in the Byzantine world precisely because of its practicality: the gap allowed the band to be flexed onto the limb without a clasp. Metallurgy varied within a single assemblage such as this one, where the flat bracelet is worked copper and the tubular ring is a leaded bronze, the added lead improving the flow of the molten alloy in casting hollow or thin-walled forms. The green and brown patina is cuprite and malachite corrosion, the natural signature of long interment. Please note that the tubular ring contains up to 4% lead. A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany all winning bids. Item # 203816

Stima:€200.58

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