Ancient Roman Glass Bead Drop Earrings, Iridescent Beads

Roman, Imperial period. A pair of drop earrings made from ancient Roman glass beads, each set with seven beads on a modern gold-tone metal mount. Short strands of ochre, rose, aubergine, cream, and smoky grey beads hang below each French hook. Their surfaces carry the frosted weathering and iridescent sheen of long burial. A small gold-tone ball hangs beside each strand. Below, each strand ends in a six-petaled flower bezel holding a single glass bead: soft green on one earring and deep cobalt blue on the other. The ancient beads keep their irregular, hand-wound shapes, and the modern mounts let them be worn again, about two thousand years after they first adorned someone. Glass beads were among the most widely produced and traded ornaments of the Roman world. Workshops around the eastern Mediterranean, in Italy, and across the provinces made them in large numbers. Most were wound: a craftsman wrapped a gather of hot glass around a metal rod or mandrel and shaped it as it cooled. Others were cut from drawn tubes. Opaque colors came from metallic oxides and other additives, and translucent cobalt blue, of the kind seen in one of the flower settings here, was a Roman favorite. The rainbow sheen on beads like these was not put there by their makers. Over centuries underground, moisture slowly leaches alkali from the glass surface and leaves extremely thin layers of silica-rich weathering. Light diffracts between these layers much as it does on a soap bubble, producing the shifting iridescence that collectors prize. Because each bead weathered in its own way, no two look alike, and a strand of ancient beads always looks a little mismatched. A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany all winning bids. Item # 206176

Estimate:$300

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