Necklace

Several strands twist together in turquoise, honey and navy, flecked with little suns of gold.

This necklace is contemporary, in gold and various glass, composed with gold and antique lapis, carnelian, and Italian and Dutch glass beads. European glass beads were made in vast numbers in Venice and the Netherlands for trade, and many traveled across Africa and Asia before reaching collectors. The strands mix opaque turquoise and green glass barrels, rounded carnelian in orange and cream, dark blue tube beads and small cubes. Flat gold discs, slightly domed, catch the light at intervals. The strands are loosely twisted into a single rope. It is 21 inches long.

Several centuries of trade, worn in a single afternoon.