Bead with figure of Harpokrates
Unknown Artist
Gold glass beads were a Hellenistic development. They were created by combining drawn tubes of colorless glass with gold foil. The earliest examples were finished bead by bead. These are all modern stringings; most ancient stringing patterns are lost as the string decays.
Credit: Gift of Helen Miller Gould, 1910
100 BC-100 AD
Glass, gold foil
1.1 x 0.5in
10.130.2477
Image and text © Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2020
Where you'll find this
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Permanent collection