Greek
A Greek gold oak wreath, Late Classical to early Hellenistic, circa 4th - 3rd century BC
Gold
Overall length 35.8 cm
Weight: 37 g
Weight: 37 g
The elaborate foliate wreath is composed of two thin golden sheets, hammered into narrow curved tubular stems, each looped at one end, and joined together at the centre. There are...
The elaborate foliate wreath is composed of two thin golden sheets, hammered into narrow curved tubular stems, each looped at one end, and joined together at the centre. There are thirty-six cut-out sheet gold oak leaves with characteristic dentate outlines and delicate symmetrical, repoussé veining, each on stems of spiral-twisted wire woven through perforations in the tubes.
Provenance
Loverdos Collection, acquired in London in 1974, thence by descentDionysios Loverdos (1878 - 1934) and his brother Spyridon Loverdos (1874 - 1936) were leading figures of the Greek financial world in the early 20th century. The brothers were both prolific art collectors and bibiliophiles. Dionysios' important collection of post-Byzantine religious art is now housed in the Ziller-Loverdos Mansion, Athens; the Spyridon Loverdos Library, composed of hundreds of incunabula and ancient Greek manuscripts, can be found in the Historical Library of the Aikaterini Laskaridis Foundation.
Spyridon (Spyros) Loverdos' daughter Maria inherited his library, and the wreath was acquired as a gift for her in London in 1974 by her son Constantin Coutarellis. Maria was president of the Hellenike Etairia Bibliophilon (Hellenic Bibliophile Society) in the 1970s and an important figure in the world of Greek rare books and manuscripts.
Literature
In Ancient Greece, wreaths were awarded as prizes for military, athletic and artistic victories, to reward public service, and as votive offerings to honour the gods or the dead. They were made chiefly of leaves such as oak, myrtle, laurel, and ivy, though celery was used at the Nemean Games. Gold wreaths of this type were meant to imitate such wreaths of real leaves but in a more durable and precious material for posterity. Sanctuary dedications are mentioned in temple treasury lists from as early as the 5th century BC, but surviving examples are few prior to the 4th century BC (see pp. 123-124 in R. Higgins, Greek and Roman Jewellery, Berkeley, 1980). The meaning of the different plant species employed for these wreaths is uncertain, but in the case of oak, there is a clear association with Zeus.Elaborate gold oak wreaths have been found in the Royal Tombs at Aigai (Vergina), including one placed within the gold larnax thought to have enclosed the remains of Philip II, father of Alexander the Great (see pl. 137 in M. Andronicos, Vergina, The Royal Tombs and the Ancient City, 1984), and another found in situ on the shoulders of a silver funerary hydria in the nearby so-called 'Prince’s Tomb' (pl. 184 in Andronicos, op. cit.). P. Adams-Veleni notes (pp. 102-103 in C.A. Picon and S. Hemingway, (eds.), Pergamon and the Hellenistic Kingdoms of the Ancient World, New York, 2016), 'Indeed, rather than a privilege of the gods, such wreaths were common among wealthy mortals, whom they accompanied after death to the eternal symposium in the beyond.'
Oak wreaths dated to the later 4th century BC have been found throughout the Hellenistic world, east and west. See for example, the splendid wreath from the Dardanelles, now in the British Museum, acc. no. 1908,0414.1 (no. 60 in D. Williams and J. Ogden, Greek Gold: Jewellery of the Classical World, London, 1994), and one from Armento in South Italy, now in Munich (pl. 23 in Higgins, op. cit.). For other close parallels, see the examples at the Benaki Museum ΓΕ 1564 and Memorial Art Gallery (University of Rochester) acc. no. 1999.57.
Wreaths are also to be found on depictions of victorious athletes, including statues, coins, and gems (see pp. 145-162, and especially no. 156, a Hellenistic carnelian ring stone with an athlete holding a wreath, and fig. 9, a bronze figure of an athlete wearing a wreath, in J.J. Herrmann and C. Kondoleon, Games for the Gods, the Greek Athlete and the Olympic Spirit, Boston, 2004).