Head Ornament
This luxurious piece of jewelry may have been a hair ornament, or one of two pendants that hung from a noblewoman's crown or headdress. The small bust of a woman with a turreted crown is identified by the Greek inscription "KOCMIA" as a personification of Adornment. The semiprecious stones were added to the piece in the 1910s as replacements for the lost original ones.
Provenance
Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object.
Unknown dealer, Smyrna; Friedrich Ludwig von Gans, Frankfurt a. Main, ca. 1912-1920, by purchase; Kurt W. Bachstitz, Hague, 1920, by purchase; Henry Walters, Baltimore [date of acquisition unknown], by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.
Exhibitions
1979-1980 | Jewelry - Ancient to Modern. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. |
1947 | Early Christian and Byzantine Art. Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore. |
Measurements
6 3/4 x 1 3/8 x 5/16 in. (17.1 x 3.5 x 0.8 cm)
Credit Line
Acquired by Henry Walters
Location in Museum
Accession Number
In libraries, galleries, museums, and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to each object in the collection.
In libraries, galleries, museums, and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to each object in the collection.
57.546