Description
Elaborate diadems or necklaces featuring centerpieces of inlaid stones, pendants, and beaded chains go back to 3rd- and 2nd-century Greek jewelry. This necklace was found on the neck of the deceased; as the symbol of the soul, the butterfly was an appropriate motif for a burial gift.
Provenance
[Discovered in 1891, in a tomb near Olbia, Parutino, Ukraine]; Postnikov, Moscow, by purchase [from a local dealer in Ukraine]; Spinks, London, by purchase [around the turn of the century]; Peter Mavrogordato, 1913, by purchase [on the art market]; Collection of F. L. van Gans, Frankfurt, 1913-1921, by purchase; Galerie Bachstitz, The Hague; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1921-1931, by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.