Getty Museum

Pendant

Unknown

Date

800–600 B.C.

Medium

Silver

Culture

Etruscan

Department

Jewelry

Institution

Getty Museum

One of twelve graduated silver disks with a raised edge and a central relief boss strung as necklace pendants. At the top, the silver sheet is folded to create a tubular suspension loop. Necklaces strung with apotropaic disks of bronze, silver, gold, or amber were among the most enduring style of personal ornaments. Circular bullae worn by women and children commonly have concentric geometric designs or astral motifs such as solar rays and lunar crescents. In the Near East, the style can be traced back to the fourth millennium B.C. and first appears in Italy in the early Orientalizing period (800s B.C.). In central Italian cemeteries, their frequent association with objects imported from the Near East suggests that this necklace style was introduced by Phoenician traders and was subsequently produced locally over several centuries.

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