LA COLLANA MONETALE DAL ‘TESORO DI PIAZZA DELLA CONSOLAZIONE, ROMA, 1910'

The name “Treasure of Piazza della Consolazione” refers to a large group of jewellery that was supposedly discovered in Rome in 1910 and promptly scattered on the antiquities market. The first reference to it can be found in the catalogue of the antique jewellery exhibition held in Paris between 20 December 1913 and 31 January 1914 at MM. Kalebdjian frères. After this event, the jewels went their separate ways, eventually ending up in the most important private and public collections in Europe and the United States. The paper focuses on the necklace preserved since 1953 in the collections of the National Liverpool Museums. The first part retraces the previous ownership history of the necklace (Schiller collection in Berlin, American Hearst collection, Nelson collection in Liverpool). The second part analyses the individual components of the necklace, namely the two gold chains and the two ornamental medallions that connect them. The latter are examined in relation to the type of setting and the artefacts it contains, specifically a solid minted at the Constantinople mint in the name of Honorius by his colleague Arcadius between 402 and 408 AD, and a bracteate belonging to the wedding jewellery category. The final observations propose hypotheses about the time and place of manufacture of the necklace, as well as its potential nature as a pastiche. This could cast doubt on the original appearance of the necklace.