Gold Necklace with Gold Cross, Two Amethysts, and an Emerald Plasma
Unknown Artist
6th–7th century
Medium
Gold, amethyst, emerald plasma
Dimensions
Overall (chain): 17 5/8 x 1/2 x 3/16 in. (44.8 x 1.2 x 0.4 cm) Overall (pendant): 1 x 13/16 x 1/4 in. (2.5 x 2 x 0.7 cm)
Classification
Metalwork-Gold
Culture
Byzantine
Department
Medieval Art
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917
Accession Number
17.190.1660
Art Historical Context
This exquisite gold necklace, dating to the 6th–7th century the Byzantine Empire, features a delicate chain suspending a cross pendant adorned with two amethysts and an emerald. Crafted in the Medieval Art tradition of metalwork-gold, its precise dimensions—chain at 17⅝ × ½ × 3/16 inches and pendant at 1 × 13/16 × ¼ inches—highlight the Byzantine mastery of fine jewelry, now housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art as a gift from J. Pierpont Morgan in 1917. In the vibrant Christian culture of Byzantium, such pendants symbolized faith and status, often worn by the elite during a time of imperi...