A gold armring formed as a hollow tapered tube, one end fitting into the other, with a circular perforation through both ends for insertion of a securing pin; the outer surface ornamented in relief, divided into two panels separated by a projecting collar and bands of ornament; each panel with a matching facing head, triangular in form, with striated hair, pointed arched brows convergent with the slender tapering nose, bulging cheeks and prominent cheekbones, almond-shaped eyes with a full-lipped mouth and a rounded protuberant chin; the heads and panels addorsed, each on a field of paired scrolling motifs, with palmettes below.

PROVENANCE:
Property of a professional collector; acquired on the UK art market before 2000; formerly in the private collection of Nicholas Wright, London, UK; accompanied by a copy of the hand-written invoice from Mr Wright, dated 16 April 1998; authenticated by one of the same experts who studied the Christie's example sold in 2011. Supplied with two positive X-Ray Fluorescence metal analysis certificates, and a positive chemical analysis report by Dr A. Hartmann of Sensotec, Otzberg, Germany, number 06016/10/03/2016.

PUBLISHED:
Accompanied by an Art Loss Register certificate.

LITERATURE:
Cf. similar ornament and layout on the gold arm ring from Bad Dürkheim, Germany, in Megaw, R.& V. Celtic Art. From its Beginnings to the Book of Kells, London, 1989, item 78; also see Christie's Ancient Jewellery sale 2491, Christie's Special Exhibition Gallery, New York, 7 December 2011, lot 384, for a similar example with less pronounced faces, which sold for $230,500.

FOOTNOTES:
The ornament on this bracelet, with the faces showing the mouth as a straight line and with slanting eyes (see Megaw, R.& V. Celtic Art. From its Beginnings to the Book of Kells, London, 1989, item 74 for a sheet gold face from Schwarzenbach with similar facial features) and scrolls (see Stead, I. M. and Rigby, V., The Morel Collection, London, 1999, item 1746 for very similar scrolls on a bronze torc) is typically 'Celtic' while the palmette leaf design is directly copied from the Greek (see Stead, I. M. and Rigby, V., The Morel Collection, London, 1999, item 1723 for very similar palmettes, on another bronze torc and this example also has terminals of a similar form); in Greek art this palmette appears frequently, as here, as the termination feature at the foot of a design.