Verdura
Ptolemaic Gold Coin and Sapphire Pendant | Verdura | 托勒密王朝金幣及藍寶石吊墜
Auction Closed
December 7, 09:12 PM GMT
Estimate
10,000 - 15,000 USD
Lot Details
Description
Verdura | Ptolemaic Gold Coin and Sapphire Pendant
Verdura | 托勒密王朝金幣及藍寶石吊墜
Set with a gold mnaieion (octadrachm), struck at Alexandria, with a diademed and veiled bust of Arsinoe II; behind head, K, reverse, a double cornucopia bound with a royal diadem; the coin mounted in a frame of round sapphires, unsigned. With signed, fitted case.
For other examples of Verdura jewels featuring coins, see Verdura, the Life and work of a Master Jeweler, by Patricia Corbett, page 132.
Patricia Corbett notes in her seminal book on Fulco di Verdura that he “had a preference for coinage,” positioning them as featured motifs in both jewels and objects. Not simply currency, coins also serve as souvenirs from travels abroad, and it is reasonable to speculate this may have been the original intent of the pendant offered here, set with a 4th- 3rd century B.C. gold octadrachm from the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Ancient Egypt. The portrait bust featured on this coin is that of Arsinoe II (b. 316 B.C., d. 270 B.C.) a queen and co-regent of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of ancient Egypt. She was given the Egyptian title "King of Upper and Lower Egypt," making her pharaoh as well. Arsinoe was also Queen of Thrace, Anatolia, and Macedonia by marriage to King Lysimachus. Her role as queen was unprecedented in the Ptolemaic dynasty; she wielded great power and acted as a role model for later Ptolemaic queens.
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