On view
Necklace with imitation coin pendants,
early 3rd century CE
The coin-like pendants on this necklace are modeled closely on contemporary coins. Each has an image of a Roman emperor or member of the imperial family on one side and a representation inspired by Roman coinage on the other. The coins of the emperors upon which the pendants were modeled range in date from one of the emperor Antoninus Pius, minted 151–52 CE, to one of Macrinus, minted 217–218 CE. The central pendant in the necklace—copied from a silver coin of Aquilia Severa, wife of the emperor Elagabalus, and minted 220–222 CE—gives us the date after which the neck-lace must have been made, as well as serving as its focal point. No gold examples of this coin are known today. Though the portraits on the pendants correspond closely to those on coins, they lack the identifying inscriptions around the portraits.
Alan Stahl, Curator of Numismatics, Firestone Library, Princeton University
More About This Object
Information
early 3rd century CE
Roman Empire
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Antiquities: auction, Wednesday, December 5 and Thursday, December 6, 2001, (New York: Christie's, 2001).
, lot. 134 - "Acquisitions of the Princeton University Art Museum 2003," Record of the Princeton University Art Museum 63 (2004): p. 101-141., p. 106 (illus.)
- Princeton University Art Museum: Handbook of the Collection (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2007), p. 189 (illus.)
- M. Fuchs, "Ein goldenes Münzkollier severischer Zeit in Princeton," in eds. Eva Christof et al., Potnia Theron: Festschrift für Gerda Schwarz zum 65. Geburtstag, (Wien: Phoibos Verlag, 2007)., p. 103-113
- Princeton University Art Museum: Handbook of the Collections (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Art Museum, 2013), p. 411
