Roman green glass bead necklace arranged on limestone

Roman Empire · A.D. 100–400

The empire is gone. The vitrum is not.

Discover the piece

Roman green glass bead necklace on a charcoal museum bust

Macro detail of weathered Roman green glass beads

Roman green glass necklace arranged on a limestone slab

Roman necklace photographed close on a black velvet bust

Closed Atelier Numen presentation box tied with an ivory ribbon

01 / 06 · Ready to wear

Editorial reference photographyZoom to examine the material

Reference AN · RO · 0002Available

Roman Vitrum Necklace

Two hundred and thirty elements of Roman vitrum, from 0.25 to 2 mm, graded along forty-five centimetres. The colour came from the iron in the melt. The softened surfaces came from nineteen centuries.

€4,200CHF 4,000 VAT included

Complimentary 24-hour reservation · Personal assistance

Date: A.D. 100–400
Culture: Roman Empire
Material: Roman vitrum
Composition: c. 230 elements
Length: 45 cm
Condition: Good, with ancient wear

Included with the piece

Individual certificate of authenticity
Condition report and conservation guidance
Atelier Numen signature presentation box
Door-to-door insured shipping

The necklace worn at true scale: front view at the collarbone, plain dark ground, single soft side light, no props.

Photography pending · 45 cm · replaces this block

Designed for the body

Museum quality, worn close.

The ancient elements have been restrung on modern thread, which returns the necklace to its original function and protects the archaeological material from tension. At forty-five centimetres it sits at the base of the throat.

45 cmLength

c. 230Elements

0.25–2 mmElement size

The wearer

Colour like this was worn at the throat.

The plate reconstructs how a necklace of this kind sat on the body. The comparative portrait, painted inside the same empire, records the dress and the jewellery of that century.

Pencil and watercolour reconstruction of a Roman woman of rank walking through a Roman street in a green glass necklace — House plate · The wearer, Roman Mediterranean, A.D. 100–400 · Commissioned reconstruction, and a record of how a necklace of this kind was worn rather than of this object

Roman period painted portrait of a young woman in red wearing a gold wreath and jewellery, Metropolitan Museum of Art — Comparative object · Portrait of a young woman in red · Roman Period, A.D. 90–120 · Encaustic on limewood with gold leaf · The Met 09.181.6 · Public Domain

Material · Roman vitrum

The green went in at the furnace, and stayed.

Molten vitrum was wound hot around a metal rod, one element at a time, and the withdrawn rod left the central hole. The iron in the mix is what gives this green. Then a slow cool in the annealing kiln — the step that has kept these intact for nineteen centuries.

> 1,000 °CFurnace

0.25 mmSmallest element

Magnified surface of the Roman green glass beads

Move the cursor to exploreMagnified surface · editorial detail

The craft

Every element began at the furnace.

A commissioned reconstruction of a Roman vitrum workshop: the kiln, the rods, the annealing tray and the small forms that left it by the hundred. The plate places the technique; the object record stays with the necklace.

Pencil and watercolour reconstruction of a Roman glass workshop with kiln, tools and green beads — House plate · Roman *vitrum* workshop, A.D. 100–400 · Commissioned reconstruction, and a record of the technique rather than of this object

A work from the period

Vitrum connected distant workshops.

Between the second and fourth centuries, roads and ports joined provincial cultures through a shared currency of forms. Vitrum travelled better than almost anything else: light, sturdy in transit, made from the Rhineland to Alexandria.

The Metropolitan Museum preserves a small group of Roman vitrum from Alexandria, dated to the second century A.D. It falls inside the catalogue range of this necklace and records the same rod-formed technique. That published record belongs to the museum object; this necklace carries its own passport.

Roman glass beads from Alexandria in the Metropolitan Museum of Art — Comparative object · Glass beads · Roman, Alexandria, 2nd century A.D. · The Met 15.130.5 · Public Domain

The scale of time

This was wound at least sixteen centuries ago.

A.D. 100–400

The vitrum is wound and strung

A.D. 293

Diocletian forms the Tetrarchy

A.D. 476

The western empire ends

1995

The recorded ownership begins

Today

The piece enters its next chapter

The Roman Mediterranean

The sea carried it west.

Objects and techniques circulated between the eastern provinces, Italy, North Africa and the western empire. The map gives the period its scale while the necklace keeps its own record.

A.D. 100–400Catalogue range

1995 · UKRecorded since

Restrained pencil and watercolour map of the Roman Mediterranean

Historical context map · Attribution rests on typology and technique; the documented ownership of this necklace begins in the United Kingdom in 1995.

Provenance · The complete record

Trust, recorded in full.

The value of an ancient object rests on evidence, clear attribution and the precise limits of its surviving record.

Established

The typology and the rod-formed technique are consistent with Roman vitrum of the second to fourth centuries A.D.
The graded arrangement of some two hundred and thirty elements survives as one coherent assembly.
The piece was acquired by a private collector in the United Kingdom in 1995, from an earlier private collection.
It passed to the current private collection, also in the United Kingdom, in 1997.
The elements are ancient; the thread and clasp are contemporary.

The surviving record

The findspot is unrecorded.
No workshop or province can be named for these elements specifically.
The record before 1995 has not survived.

Every gap remains visible in the dossier. Clarity protects the object and its next custodian.

Physical archive · Included

The object record

Every object enters the Numen Archive with its own illustrated record: photography, material description, provenance, condition and permanent number.

Atelier Numen · ArchiveObject record
Series 02 · Rome

Roman necklace on a charcoal bust within the archive record

Authenticity verified

Object: Necklace
Origin: Roman Empire
Period: Imperial Rome
Date: A.D. 100–400
Material: Roman vitrum
Measure: 45 cm · c. 230 elements
Record: AN · RO · 0002

Individual edition · 01/01Permanent house archive

Lifetime authenticity

The piece arrives with an individual certificate and a return guarantee should its authenticity ever be questioned.

Secure custody

Conservation-grade packing, insured transport and personal oversight through delivery.

Continued care

Roman vitrum carries a delicate surface. Store the necklace flat on soft cloth, in stable humidity and filtered light; we review the stringing on request.

The house presentation · Included

A signature box, worthy of its contents.

Every Atelier Numen piece arrives as a gift in the house’s midnight-blue presentation box, tied by hand with an ivory grosgrain ribbon.

Closed midnight-blue Atelier Numen presentation box with ivory ribbon — **The Atelier Numen box**Midnight-blue bookbinding cloth · ivory grosgrain ribbon · antique-gold signature · protective inner case

House signatureA permanent design shared by every piece in the Atelier Numen collection.

Gift presentationClosed, ribboned by hand and ready to be given.

Protected withinA conservation-grade inner case is fitted to the object’s exact geometry.

Personal deliveryAvailable by appointment, or insured shipping with direct oversight.

Before deciding

Questions, answered clearly

Is the vitrum ancient if the thread is modern?

Yes. Organic threads perish while the vitrum survives. Restringing is established practice for giving ancient material a stable contemporary assembly, and the archive record always separates ancient material from contemporary assembly.

Can I wear the necklace?

Yes, with care. Roman vitrum has a delicate surface and in places a natural iridescence has formed. Keep it dry, put it on after perfume and cosmetics, and store it flat on a soft support.

Is it legal to own and to export?

The piece is registered under Spanish Historical Heritage Law 16/1985 and the sale is notified as required before completion. Export outside the EU needs a prior authorisation, which we help you obtain.

How is the date reached?

By typology and technique. The forms, the winding marks and the weathering are consistent with Roman vitrum of the second to fourth centuries A.D. The findspot is unrecorded, and the dossier says so.

What exactly will I receive?

The piece, its individual certificate, the technical and condition record, conservation guidance, archive photography and the Atelier Numen presentation box. Every detail is confirmed with you before shipping.

One piece · one custodian

Sixteen centuries. The next chapter is yours.

The reservation is complimentary and holds the piece for twenty-four hours. We respond personally, with the complete dossier.

The Arrivals

The next object is already being examined.

Pieces are found one at a time, and only the intact ones are catalogued. Subscribers see each arrival first, with its record, its condition and its price.