Diadem

Frontal diadem made of gold leaf bent into a semi-cylinder, bordered by a knurled band, inside which is a serpentine motif executed with the same technique. The body of the object is decorated with plant scrolls drawn with knurled lines, which extend symmetrically on both sides of a central acanthus tuft cut from a separate sheet of gold, welded only at the bottom in order to obtain a relief effect. The small holes near the edge may have been used to nail the sheet to a base of perishable material. The artefact is representative of the earliest work of the goldsmiths of Taranto, and attests to the gradual development, starting from Attic prototypes, of indigenous decorative stylemes in the late fourth century BC.