| Sintra Gold Collar | |
|---|---|
 Sintra Collar in the British Museum | |
| Material | Gold |
| Size | Diameter 13.1cm |
| Created | 10th-8th Century BC |
| Present location | British Museum,London |
| Identification | 1900,0727.1 |
TheSintra Collar (Portuguese:Xorca de Sintra) is a Bronze Age gold neck-ring found nearSintra inPortugal. Since 1900, it has been part of theBritish Museum's collection and has long been admired for the sophistication and geometric beauty of its design and technique.[1]
The Sintra Collar is made of three thick round bars of graduateddiameters which have been tapered and fused together at the ends. A ribbed link-plate is loosely attached by means of hooks at the end which pass throughperforations. The front segments of the bars carry incisedgeometric decoration of parallel lines, divided into panels and fringed by a series oftriangles (known as dog's tooth design). Attached at either end are two separately formed cups ofgold, with an internal spike and moulding. The catch-plate is ornamented with five ribs, three of which have incised oblique lines.
The goldcollar was allegedly found in 1878 by workers digging a ditch in a stonequarry in the Casal Amaro parish of Santa Maria, near Sintra inPortugal. According to reports at the time, the neck-ring was found with human bones in a grave. Soon after its discovery, the finds were purchased by the landowner. It was later bought by theLondon dealers John Hall Junior & Co, who sold it to the British Museum at theturn of the century.
The Sintra Collar is one of a number of similarBronze Age jewellery finds recorded along theAtlantic seaboard of Europe. Its decoration, for example, is paralleled in contemporarytorcs found in southernSpain at sites such as Sagrajas nearBadajoz. However, its complex design of tapering bars and catch-plate with accompanying hooks is unique.