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Necklace with Pendants
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
About this work
Wearing richly decorated gold necklaces such as this one was a common practice among members of Byzantium’s upper classes. In addition to their use as personal adornments and symbols of social status, necklaces with cross pendants and capsules containing relics were also believed to function as powerful protective devices. Here, two hexagonal gold cylinders that may have enclosed either magical texts or holy substances flank a cross pendant on either side.
Cleveland Museum of Art’s own descriptionCredit lineNecklace with Pendants, 500s. Byzantium, Constantinople?, early Byzantine period, 6th century. Gold, garnets; part 1: 56.5 cm (22 1/4 in.); part 2: 4.5 x 3.1 x 1.6 cm (1 3/4 x 1 1/4 x 5/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund, 1954.3
