The ancient Romans considered jewellery to be an essential accessory, for it provided a public display of their wealth. Roman jewellery at first followed trends set by the Etruscans, using gold and glass beads, but as the power and spread of the Roman Empire increased, jewellery designs became increasingly elaborate. Different cultural styles from Greece, Egypt, North Africa, and the Orient were all incorporated to reflect Rome’s prosperity as a dominant, conquering city.
The term ‘crumb’ bead (or ‘splatter’ beads) refer to the beads decorated with areas of colourful dots that look like paint splatters. Crumb beads were usually made by rolling a still hot bead over crushed glass crumbs. In some cases, the crumbs completely covered the bead surface; in others, like in this necklace, they are more or less sparsely applied. The crumbs can be monochrome or multiculoured (though the latter was more common), and marvered flat or left somewhat protruding. There is some evidence of crumb-decoration troughout most of the later periods.
