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Details / Information for Button

Button

500s

Byzantium, early Byzantine period, 6th century

Medium
rock crystal with a garnet mounted in a gold granulated star
Measurements
Diameter: 3.1 cm (1 1/4 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Mrs. Horace Kelley 1946.259
Public Domain
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Location
104 Late Antiquity
Print

Description

The decorative technique known as granulation had been used in Etruscan, Greek, and Roman jewelry well before this Byzantine piece was made. Granulation is when tiny spheres or “granules” are attached to a piece. It can be seen here in in a rock crystal button decorated with a six-pointed star, with a simply set garnet in the center.
A circular rock crystal button, split by a diagonal crack, surrounds a six-pointed gold star at its center. Tiny gold spheres of varying sizes fleck the surface of the star. In the middle of the ornament, a smooth, dark red, oval garnet is set in the gold. The clear disk provides a base for the textured gold star and the deep, lustrous stone.

Button

500s

Byzantium, early Byzantine period, 6th century

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