Gold armband with Herakles knot

Period:: Hellenistic

Date:: 3rd–2nd century B.C.

Culture:: Greek

Medium:: Gold inlaid with garnets, emeralds, and enamel

Dimensions:: 3 1/2in. (8.9cm)

Classification:: Gold and Silver

Credit Line:: Purchase, Mr. and Mrs. Christos G. Bastis Gift, 1999

Accession Number:: 1999.209

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 163

The Herakles knot on this sumptuous armband is enriched with floral decoration and inlaid with garnets, emeralds, and enamel. According to the Roman writer Pliny, the decorative device of the Herakles knot could cure wounds, and its popularity in Hellenistic jewelry suggests that it was thought to have the power to avert evil.

Metzger, Henri. 1951. Les représentations dans la céramique attique du IVe siècle. p. 150, fig. 52, Paris: E. de Boccard.

Münzen und Medaillen A.G. 1986. Kunstwerke der Antike. November 14, 1986. no. 178, p. 53, pl. 29.

Gallery Mikazuki. 1996. Exhibition of Ancient Near-East, Mediterranean Art and Archaeology: 13th Fed. [sic]-8th Mar. 1996. no. 12, Tokyo: Gallery Mikazuki, Tokyo.

Picón, Carlos A. 2000. "Recent Acquisitions, A Selection: 1999-2000." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, 58(2): pp. 10–11.

Picón, Carlos A. 2007. Art of the Classical World in the Metropolitan Museum of Art: Greece, Cyprus, Etruria, Rome no. 227, pp. 192, 450, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Picón, Carlos A. 2009. "Glass and Gold of the Hellenistic and Early Roman World." Philippe de Montebello and the Metropolitan Museum of Art: 1977-2008, James R. Houghton, ed. p. 21, fig. 32, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Mertens, Joan R. 2010. How to Read Greek Vases. p. 150, fig. 52, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Picón, Carlos A. and Seán Hemingway. 2016. Pergamon and the Hellenistic Kingdoms of the Ancient World no. 175, p. 238, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Timelines
Ancient Greece, 1000 B.C.–1 A.D.

Art of the Classical World in The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Greece, Cyprus, Etruria, Rome
How to Read Greek Vases
Pergamon and the Hellenistic Kingdoms of the Ancient World
Philippe de Montebello and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1977–2008
"Recent Acquisitions, A Selection: 1999–2000": The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, v. 58, no. 2 (Fall, 2000)