Achaemenid Snake-Terminal Torque or Bracelet

Near East, Persia, Achaemenid Empire. A heavy penannular hoop of cast leaded copper alloy, drawn from a rounded rod that swells gently toward the opening and closes in a pair of confronted terminals worked as stylized serpent heads. The shaft is smooth and unadorned, letting the mass of the metal and the sweep of the circle carry the design, while the terminals retain traces of incised detail beneath a dark brown and green cupreous patina. Ornaments of this type served as both personal adornment and portable wealth across the Achaemenid world, worn at the neck as a torque or at the wrist or upper arm, and the serpent, a creature of renewal and guardianship in Persian iconography, was a favored terminal motif on such rings. Animal-terminal hoops are among the signature ornaments of Achaemenid metalwork, familiar from the tribute-bearers carved on the Apadana staircase at Persepolis, who present bracelets and torques with facing beast heads to the Great King. The convention descends from earlier Near Eastern and Median jewelry and passed outward into Scythian and Thracian workshops, so that the animal-headed ring became a shared visual language across the Iron Age steppe and its settled neighbors. Precious-metal versions in gold and silver survive from hoards such as the Oxus Treasure; alloy examples like this one carried the same forms to a broader public. Please note that this torque contains up to 12% lead. Item # 204598

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