Merovingian Ball Pendant

Spherical pendant replica from the Merovingian period.

This remarkable replica of a spherical pendant from the Merovingian Era is modelled on a Frankish rock crystal pendant from the period between 600 and 700 AD.

The original of the Frankish rock crystal pendant was found in a burial ground in the village of Picquigny near Amiens in France and is now in the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford / England.

Link to the original sphere-pendant...

In contrast to the medieval sphere pendant with a rock crystal sphere, we offer this replica with a sphere made of glass, which allows less wealthy customers to wear this Merovingian jewellery.

The setting of the sphere-pendant is made of bronze and also available in genuine silver-plated.
A black leather cord of 1 m length is included.

Dimension of the sphere pendant: 3 x 3.5 cm plus ring diameter 1.5 cm.

Pendants made of rock crystal are impressive evidence of jewellery design in the early Middle Ages and can be found during the Merovingian period as a costume component in the Franconian and Alemannic regions of southern Germany and eastern France.
The ball pendants usually hung on a ribbon from the belt of the wealthy woman.

It is possible that the crystal pendants of the Merovingian period also had a magical aspect, for the Romans already regarded rock crystal as a kind of solidified ice and the associated idea that rock crystal could provide cooling, quench thirst or even cure fever.
In the course of the 7th century, spherical rock crystal pendants were increasingly replaced by Christian amulet capsules and disappeared completely from early medieval fashion in the Carolingian period.