Adornments for female headdress
Russia, 12th-13th centuries.
Cast and chased silver with filigree and granulation.
The Armory Chamber boasts a large and varied collection of jewelry, including some objects from the famous Tula treasurehoard discovered in the 19th century. The items featured here are a star-shaped kolt and a long, pendent ryasna. Adornments similar in form were extremely widespread in Ancient Rus. On festive occasions, they were plaited into the hair at the temples or fastened to the headdress.
Jewelers in pre-Mongolian Russia were marvelously skilled, indeed, as can be seen from the extremely complex filigree-work of the ryasna. The technique employed in executing the granulated kolt was no simpler, for here, several thousand miniscule beads of silver were affixed individually to achieve a truly stunning effect.
