Jewelry of Kievan Rus in the collection of the British Museum

In the legendary British Museum, the collections of which we often mention in our articles, among the huge number of artifacts of antiquity and modernity, there are exhibits found on the territory of Ukraine. The jewelry of the 12th century, which we will introduce you today, was part of a treasure found in the very center of Kyiv, on Tryokhsvyatitelskaya Street. These pendants, before getting into the museum, visited several collectors. At one time they belonged to Durlacher Bros, founded in 1843 by art dealer Henry Durlacher. Then they were acquired by the famous American businessman and banker John Pierpont Morgan, who collected books, paintings and other masterpieces of art. Morgan donated part of his collection to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Harvard University and other institutions. Several thousand artifacts were transferred to the British Museum, among them were these decorations of Kievan Rus.



Jewelry is made of silver. These are hoops made of wire with three openwork, expertly decorated beads. Several hoops are missing beads. Such rings were put on a headdress in the area of ​​the temples, which is why they are called - temporal rings-pendants. The earliest decorations of this type belong to the Catacomb and Unětice culture: at that time they were still primitive and monotonous. Later, new forms of temporal rings appeared, they became more refined and complex, there is an opinion that, in general, Byzantine culture influenced their appearance. You can purchase a variety of medieval jewelry on Violity by going to this section.