TWO GOLDEN HORDE BEJEWELLED GOLD FILIGREE ORNAMENTS
Possibly Qipchaq steppe, Central Asia, late 13th - 14th century

Each shaped as a lobed floral medallion, made of gold sheet and wire, box-constructed with sheet back panels, openwork side walls, and spiral filigree and granulation in the front, encrusted with nine cabochon-cut almandine garnets in high collar settings arranged in the form of a blossomed rosette, reserved against a ground of dense spiral gold filigree producing minute scrolling vegetal meanders, the edging embellished with granulation resting on a flattened band of paired rope design, the plain sheet back with four small hooks located on the edge of every corner, each 3.1cm x 2.5cm.

For a comparable example also attributed to the Golden Horde Qipchaq steppe and dating to the later 13th – early 14th century, please see a pair of gold filigree earrings set with almandine garnets in the Khalili Collection of Art, JLY 829 (M. Spink, The Art of Adornment: Part II, Khalili Collection of Islamic Art, 2013, p. 415, fig. 309).

Two gem-set gold filigree dress ornaments similar in shape and execution to ours, attributed to the Golden Horde and dating to the late 13th – early 14th century, were successfully sold for £25,000 hammer at Sotheby’s London, 1 April 2009, lot 71.

For a broader discussion on gold filigree jewellery and the history of the Golden Horde, please refer to the previous lot 377.