Diadem

Place of OriginGreece

Date250-150 BCE

Dimensions14 1/2 × 3/8 × 1/2 in. (36.8 × 1 × 1.3 cm)
Length of knot without sleeves: 1 1/16 in. (2.7 cm)
Length of knot with sleeves: 2 in. (5.1 cm)

Mediumgold, garnet, and blue glass enamel inlay

ClassificationJewelry

Credit LineGift of The Georgia Welles Apollo Society with additional funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

2005.45

On View

Toledo Museum of Art (2445 Monroe Street), Gallery, 02, Classic

DescriptionThis object is a diadem, to be tied around the head (above the hairline, not across the forehead), with ribbons attached to the strap end rings and tied at the nape. Alternatively-because this object is a little shorter than most surviving strap diadems-it may be a less common thigh-band. Every sophisticated technique perfected by Hellenistic goldsmiths was used to create this diadem: sheet gold, repoussé (hammered raised designs); wire filigree and chain; granulation; and glass and garnet inlay. Experiments corroborate the virtuosity of ancient Greek jewelers, whose work has been imitated with only moderate success since the middle of the nineteenth century. The central Herakles knot was made from sheet-gold tubes, which are probably hollow, with soldered decoration of wire filigree and granulation. The chain work of the strap is a wire braiding technique. Wire was made of strips of twisted gold. It has been suggested that the ends of the strips were heated to make gold balls on the ends of the strips so that the goldsmith could more easily grasp the wire to twist it. Two types of twist were a straight twist and a box twist: The straight twist makes a cylindrical tube; the box twist makes a twist pattern. The wire on this diadem is straight twist. To make the chain, first a series of wire loops was made by wrapping wire around a rod and cutting them to make links. Chain was formed by folding the links over one another. To make a flexible strap, lengths of chain were then horizontally woven together-for this strap, eight parallel chains were interwoven side by side; the thread-like cross wires are visible under the microscope. (For illustrations, see Williams and Ogden 1995, p. 26) Granulation and furnace soldering technique is as follows: Colloidal solder: Malachite powder was mixed with water soluble glue such as hide glue. The mixture was used to hold all the granules and elements in place. The entire artwork was assembled and put on a pallet into the furnace, which was heated with a blow pipe. The object was removed as soon as the gold fused together. (For illustrations, see Williams and Ogden 1995, pp. 26-28). Enamel: Fused frit glass inlays-in blue-survive in many of the petals. The Greeks at this time used green and blue glass enamels exclusively. The surviving enamel shows degradation that can't be replicated by forgers. It has bubbles in it (due to Greek technology at the time, i.e. they did not wash the crushed glass to grade it to a uniform particle size). As a result fine particles of enamel melt first and trap air bubbles in the enamel. Therefore air bubbles are present in the enamel. The gold beneath the enamel was scored in an attempt to promote adhesion between the gold and enamel; however, the molten enamel wets the surface of the gold and creates an atomic bond, so scoring the metal did not improve adhesion. Pyrope (called garnet by the Romans) derives its name from the Greek word meaning "fire-like." Garnets were imported from what is now the Czech Republic. In the early Hellenistic period (330-250 B.C.), gemstones were rarely set in jewelry; in the late Hellenistic period (175-50 B.C.), garnets were common. This diadem dates from the Middle Hellenistic transitional period (250-175 B.C.). Pliny's Natural History notes the belief that all blood-red stones (garnet, ruby, spinel) cured bleeding and inflammation. Binding wire can be seen on the backs of the cuffs. Wire staples hold the cuffs to the chain.

Label TextDiadems were worn around the head above the hairline, and tied with ribbons attached to rings at the strap ends. This diadem may have been a gift to a bride, because the five-petal blue flowers represent myrtle, sacred to Aphrodite, goddess of love, and to Hera, goddess of marriage. The “Herakles knot” (a square knot) was a good luck charm. The goldsmith used every sophisticated technique known to the ancient Greeks: repoussé (tooled raised designs) sheet gold; wire loop-in-loop chain woven to form straps; wire filigree; granulation (tiny spheres of gold); and glass and garnet inlay.Published ReferencesToledo Museum of Art, Toledo Museum of Art Masterworks, Toledo, 2009, p. 77, repr. (col.).Exhibition HistoryNew York, Ward & Co., January-March 2005.

Toledo, Toledo Museum of Art, Inspired Giving: The Apollo Society 25th Anniversary Exhibition, October 15, 2010-February 13, 2011, p. 37, repr. (col.) p. 37.

Comparative ReferencesSee also St. Petersburg, Hermitage, inv. X.1899.7, gold strap diadem with central Herakles knot flanked by lion's heads, from Chersonesos HK 114 (= tk 74), dated 200-280 B.C., published in Michael Pfrommer, Untersuchungen zur Chronologie Früh- und Hochhellenistischen Goldschmucks (Tübingen: Ernst Wasmuth Verlag 1990) no. HK 114, Taf. 4.4; also pp. 4-80 on Herakles knots; and in Dyfri Williams and Jack Ogden, Greek Gold: Jewelry of the Classical World, exhibition catalogue, The Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York: Abrams 1995) pp. 196-197, nos. 131-133.