A Roman gold brooch from the Severan period showing a cameo mounted at the centre of a gold frame with radiating lines. The cameo shows a young woman facing left, draped and with a typical coiffure of the later Severan period, c.220- 240 AD. Two garnet inlaid elements hang from two chains. They end in wires which would have held river pearls. Gold, sardonyx and garnet. Oval mount: 22 by 16 mm. length of chains and mount: 74 mm.Such brooches might well have come in pairs and given the small size of their pins (now missing on this specimen) they would have adorned tunics made from fine, thin, cloth.
Oval mount: 22 by 16 mm. length of chains and mount: 74 mm.
PROVENANCE
From a European collection formed in the 1980's.