Colchis, 4th century BC
Glass
Tbilisi, Georgian National Museum, 13-2007:17-21, 27, 52
Vast numbers of glass beads were found in Tomb 24, ranging from blue, brown, yellow, blue-green, and translucent glass beads to “eye” beads that may have had magical properties. The blue, brown, and yellow beads evoke, if only in a distant manner, lapis lazuli, sardonyx, and amber, materials for which glass was an inexpensive substitute. An example of cloth with tiny beads attached to it was excavated at Acemhüyük in Anatolia, and it suggests the possible original purpose of the Vani beads.
Vani, 4th century BC
Gold, total wt.: 45.287g
Tbilisi, Georgian National Museum, 1-2005:38
Found to the left of the man’s chest was this brooch in the form of a shield. Around the edge are twenty tiny birds whose heads are decorated with granulation. The wire frames probably once held inlaid glass that has not survived.
Vani, 4th century BC
Gold, total wt.: 56.560 g
Tbilisi, Georgian National Museum, 1-2005:29
Sewn along the outer edge of the man’s sleeve were 103 appliqués in the form of heraldic eagles.
Vani, 4th century BC
Gold, wt.: 12.5 g, 12.733 g
Tbilisi, Georgian National Museum, 1-2005:8, part 1a-b
The gorgeous temple ornaments covered with a flock of birds were rendered even more elaborate by the addition of two decorative triangular plaques. The backs are flat and enlivened with a variation on the Greek key pattern. Eight little animals peer out from beneath a network of tiny grains of gold on the front of each.
Vani, 4th century BC
Gold, total wt.: 70.682 g
Tbilisi, Georgian National Museum, 1-2005:20
Appliqués in the form of ducks (147 of them in total) were sewn to the man’s garment, some of them in a spiral pattern.
Vani, 4th century BC
Gold, wt.: 62.09g
Tbilisi, Georgian National Museum, 1-2005:1
This grand object was probably once attached erect to a headdress, perhaps as a badge of office. On each side of the U-shape is a leaping stag surrounded by three deer. On the top sits a cluster of birds and lions. Fine granulation further adorns the rest of the piece.
Vani, 4th century BC
Gold, wt.: 107.806g
Tbilisi, Georgian National Museum, 1-2005:3
Disposed around Tomb 24 were 331 tubes that have been arranged into a series of chains. Suspended from the ends are small pendants, each with six pomegranates on smaller chains.
