Description Golden bracelet with ram heads
Cast gold, chased, chased and filigree, dented inplaces
Longitudinal oval, appx. 95 x 75 mm, depth appx. 17 mm, 84 Gr.
Egypt or Near East (Persia?), 1.- 4. century AD.
Provenance: Private collection Vienna 1999, private collection Austria
Not only in Egypt, where the ram originally took the form of the creator god Chnum and later, but then with downward curved horns, as the holy animal of Amun. While the bull was not only venerated but also spread throughout the entire Near East region as far as Persia, it was the focus of cultic activities alongside the bull as a symbol of fertility. Moreover, the protective effect of the bull was used in amulets and jewellery.
This charming piece of jewellery made of finely worked gold, which besides its decorative also had ritual function, shows at the ends of the clasp, which is chased and soldered as a hollow tube, a ram’s head with downward bent, rolled horns, thus it belongs to Amun. The soldered filigree below the cast heads could give an indication of his or the jeweller possible Near Eastern provenance, but this should not speak against an Egyptian one, at least a strong Persian-Sassanid influence is to be assumed.
Expert: Dr. Helmut Satzinger, Professor of Egyptology, University of Vienna
Former Keeper of ‘The Egyptian and Near Eastern Collection’, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
Literature: Manfred Lurker, “Symbole der alten ?gypter”, Weilheim / Obb., 1964, p. 56 and p. 133
RefEgy5320