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Sanehtaj is the traditional center of gold-working, making it a rival to Nilakabat, renowned for its gem-cutting and jewelry. While some gold jewelry with gems was made in both cities, Sanehtaj emphasized pieces solely made from gold, and had the better goldsmiths. Despite frequent communications and travel between the two cities, they retained their specialties because of their local resources: most of Ioudaia's precious stones come from rivers and mines near Nilakabat, and before the 19th century, most of the gold came from placer mines in the headwaters of the Aelo Rud east of Sanehtaj.

The Museum started out as a small collection of gold jewelry and other art objects bequeathed to the city in 1805 by Gal-Or Ali ben Esfandiyar, a master goldsmith and connoisseur of the arts, on the condition that they be available for public display. The collection was small enough to be housed in city hall until 1879, when Yonit Elnaz Baxrisnezhad, a successful industrialist, bequeathed her own fine jewelry to the city. For a generation or so, it was the fashion among the city's wealthy and the wealthy in Shariyath and the cities along the Aigassos to donate their gold, or some of it, to the city as well, as a way of displaying their wealth and taste (and claiming philanthropy) after their deaths. And by the end of the period, the development of archeology meant that the city was beginning to receive ancient pieces as well as heirlooms.

The Pentarchs of Sanehtaj founded the Museum in 1917, transferring all the city's gold objects to it, while maintaining possession of the much smaller collection of other art donated to the city. The Museum steadily expanded its collection and its endowment during the 20th century. Starting in 1956, it began support for Ioudaian archeological digs on the condition that the Museum receive gold artifacts recovered from the digs, and that the researchers acknowledge the Museum's support for their work.

Beginning in 1963, the Sanehtaj government placed a small tax on gold objects made in city in order to allow the Museum to collect representative works of Sanehtaj's goldworking heritage. In addition, the Museum entered into an agreement with the Thaunakie Museum and the Ornemion Numismatic Museum to temporarily loan each other pieces for special exhibitions.

Today, the Museum of Gold Arts has one of the largest collections of gold in the Western Isles, and while it still specializes in local and Ioudaian gold products, it also includes pieces from other countries. The museum's loan agreements now include foreign institutions as well, expanding public awareness and appreciation of Sanehtaj and Ioudaia's goldworking, past and present, and bringing international works to Ioudaian attention.

For security, the Museum is built into the side of a ridge near Sanehtaj, occupying a former Ioudaian Army bunker complex. The Museum has its own tram stop at the end of the city's north-south line.

Examples of the Museum's Collections

Ring, found in Bagh'e Din
Anonymous artist
Gold, carnelian, and lapis lazuli
~2,300 BCE

This ring is the earliest known example of goldworking in what's now Ioudaia. It was made by the Korae from materials found in the Leukoroseria. The gold is from near Sanehtaj – the motherlode has been identified by the chemical and isotopic composition of the gold and trace metals with it – the lapis is from near the Borysthemes – the only source was known in Ioudaian antiquity – and the carnelian appears to match modern samples found on the mountains' north slopes.

Coin, Thaunakie
Anonymous artist
Gold
~700 BCE

Thaunakie is believed to be the first city in Ioudaia to mint its own coins. This coin's face with a lion and a bull dates it to the Mydonean dynasty, which used the bull as a symbol of its strength. Historians believe that the lion and bull facing off represents the dynasty's power over the violent forces of nature.

The source of the gold in the coin is unknown, as it doesn't match the composition of unrefined gold from any historical sources. The small amount of copper and tin alloying the gold suggests the coin may have been made from a mixture of recycled gold objects, some alloyed for hardness.

Earring, made in Sanehtaj, found in Chyrtiros
Anonymous artist
Gold-silver alloy
~350 BCE

Sanehtaj was founded in roughly 400 BCE as a Kabiruz settlement around a fortress laying claim to the nearby gold-producing areas. That this earring was produced no more than a few decades later indicates how quickly the city's goldworking industry developed, though doubtless the craftsmen came from elsewhere in the area. Significantly, the pomegranate decorations are in a style originating in Araxia, where the fruit was cultivated.

Lion Ornament, made and found in Pteleon
Anonymous artist
Refined gold
-55 BCE

Sanehtaj was not the only early center of Ioudaian goldworking. This clothing ornament was made in Pteleon, apparently from imported gold. The gold was refined to a purity unknown in Ioudaia at the time, with other metals measuring less than a one part in a thousand in toto.

The meaning of the lion's head with a rayed mane isn't known. It appears to be deliberately stylized rather than naturalistic, as fossils of the Doman lion show that its range extended that far south when the piece was made.

Animal figurines, made in Sanehtaj, found in Cypharisseis
Ayal Freydoun Yaunozhad (~190 – 253)
23k gold-copper alloy
235

These statuettes are the earliest known example of worked gold that can be attributed to a specific artist. Embossed makers' marks on the bottoms of the bases match those on several other gold animal figurines which are known to have been made by Ayal Freydoun .

The statuettes are also the earliest gold artifacts whose creation date is known. These three animals were unearthed wrapped in silk cloth in a small wooden box. Carbon dating of the silk and wood followed by dendrochronological dating (matching tree rings in the box to trees that grew at the time) gave a narrow range – less than a year -- for when both were made, strongly suggesting that the box and the wrapping were made for the set of animals, thus dating them as well.

Ring, found in Shariyath
Anonymous artist
23k gold-copper alloy with ruby and enamel cloissone
359

The ruby set in this ring was doubtless polished in Nilakabat, but the body of the ring is Sanehtaj workmanship, including the unusual gold-copper alloy used at the time. As a result, where the ruby was set in the ring, and where the ring was designed, remain in doubt.

Brooch, made in Sanehtaj, found in Shariyath
Anonymous artist believed part of Nozar Yatir Workshop
24k gold and 22k gold-silver alloy, turquoise, cinnabar, enamel cloissone
~400

The flower-shaped decorations around the rim of this brooch are among the earliest examples of mass-produced jewelry. They were cast from 22k gold-silver alloy, and soldered onto the body of the brooch, which is itself built up from layers of gold foil. Identical decorations are found on other pieces of jewelry from the city made around the time.

All of the flower-decorated pieces are thought to be produced in the workshop Nozar Yatir founded, which is referred to in several surviving historical sources. However, specific proof is lacking, as one of the sources names four other workshops that made jewelry using partial mass production.

Turquoise is unusual in Ioudaian jewelry, as the only local sources are hard-rock mines in the driest parts of Arzi Ikwa, which were historically difficult to exploit. However, the stones match other pieces of Ioudaian turquoise, leading to much scholarly speculation that Arzi Ikwa turquoise may have been valued specifically because it was difficult to get.

Cup, made in Sanehtaj, found in Oichalia
Bahar bat Tevet Fariba (~398 - 447)
22k gold-copper alloy
439

This cup is an excellent example of Bahar's naturalistic style. She was known for making luxurious and practical objects for Ioudaia's wealthiest citizens. The gazelles depicted on this cup are and were found only in and near Arzi Ikwa. Whether Bahar travelled there to make models and sketches of them, or whether one or more were captured or killed and brought to her remains a subject of debate, as Bahar apparently visited Amphigemea, just south of Azri Ikwa, in the early 430s.

Regardless, the cup's appearance in Oichalia is taken to indicate that there was at least a small wealthy elite in the city, even though there is no other evidence about it.

As discovered in Summer 2022:

Detail, after unfolding Summer 2022 to Winter 2022-2023:

Inscribed gold foil, likely made in Sanehtaj, found in ruins 13km west of Estakhir
Anonymous artist
Gold
Early 500s

This fragmentary piece was doubtless part of a larger sheet of inscribed gold foil, though its purpose remains unclear. The style, however, was Doman, and was popular in both Domanania and Ioudaia during the early part of the Xodian Dynasty. Scholars believe that the style was copied by Ioudaian gold-workers because of its popularity.

Roundel (clothing decoration), made in Sanehtaj for Epeius Ranen ben Nati Parsa in Eiresion
Tamir Rhexenor ben Simo, sometimes called Tamir Phalakrotis (Tamir the Bald) (1152 - 1225)
Donated by Ashur ben Isodemos
22k gold-silver alloy
1180s

During the Silken Age, Sanehtaj jewelry-making reached new heights. This roundel, one of six originally fastened to an embroidered silk shirt, is made from thousands of tiny gold spheres, along with intricate shapes made of gold foil. The incredible workmanship is typical for the period, and these six roundels are the best preserved examples.

The roundels had been handed down in a single family for a little over 700 years, and were among the first to be bequeathed to the Museum upon the owner's death at the end of the 19th century.

Necklace, made in Sanehtaj
Afsoon Amit (1945-)
22k gold-copper alloy wire
1981

Despite the increasing amount of mass-produced gold jewelry, and the dispersal of Ioudaia's goldworking industry to other cities, Sanehtaj remains Ioudaia's primary producer of hand-made, top of the line goldwork.

This necklace is built up from strands of fine gold wire, carefully sintered together. Afsoon Amit made the necklace for Pero bat Ora, then a football striker and Ioudaia's highest-paid female athlete. It had several owners after her, and the Museum purchased it from its last private owner.