CultureRoman
Titles
- Serpent Bracelet
Date1–100 AD
MediumGold, green glass
Dimensions9/16 × 3 5/8 × 3 15/16 inches (1.5 × 9.2 × 10 cm)
Credit LineGift of Miss Annette Finnigan
Object number37.48
Current Location
The Audrey Jones Beck Building
200 Jamail Atrium
On view
Explore Further
Department
AntiquitiesObject Type
Throughout the ancient world, women wore jewelry to enhance their appearance, indicate rank, and display wealth. Men lavished gifts of earrings, bracelets, and necklaces on their wives and mistresses as tokens of affection. Brides had dowries that often contained sizeable parures, or jewelry wardrobes.
This armband is shaped in the form of coiled snakes with carefully incised scales, open mouths with protruding fangs, and eyes inlaid in glass. In Egypt, such armbands were worn by followers of the goddess Isis as symbols of good luck and resurrection, and to protect against evil.
Provenance[Theodore Zoumpoulakis, Athens]; purchased by Miss Annette Finnigan (1873–1940), Houston, by 1937; given to MFAH, 1937.
Exhibition History"Ten Centuries that Shaped the West," The Rice Institute for the Arts, Houston, October 15, 1970–January 3, 1971; Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, February 3–April 1, 1971; Witte Memorial Museum, San Antonio, May 16–July 11, 1971.
"Cleopatra's Egypt: Age of the Ptolemeis," The Brooklyn Museum, October 7 1988–January 2, 1989; The Detroit Institute of the Arts, February 15–May 1, 1989; The Kunsthalle der Hypo-kulturstiftung, Munich, June 8–September 10, 1989.
"Splendors of Ancient Egypt," The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, September 22, 1996–March 29, 1997.
"Gold! Natural Treasure, Cultural Obsession," Houston Museum of Natural Science, February 18–September 18, 2005.
Cataloguing data may change with further research.
If you have questions about this work of art or the MFAH Online Collection please contact us.
30 BC–395 AD
Blue, red, yellow and green glass (millifiori technique)
70.125
