ear-ring
- Museum number
- 1981,0905.13
- Description
-
Ear-ring; gold hoop and a pendant of a lunate gold sheet decorated with three cabochon garnets, and enriched with bordering wires and granules.
Andrási 2008
The hoop consists of a circular-section wire formed by twisting. It is bent to form a hook at one end. The other end is bent to form a loop then twisted cylindrically around itself in a return. The two ends together form a hook-and-eye fastening.
The lunate pendant is soldered to the hoop and also secured by a triangular projection from the base-plate, which is folded over it. The base-plate is a single sheet of lunate form with seven triangular projections around its outer edge. Each projection contains three soldered-on granules in a triangular arrangement. The edge of the base-plate is folded up, except where the groups of granules are. Within the edge of the base-plate is soldered a strip forming a vertical collar. It has two twisted wires in a herring-bone pattern all along the inside edge. A thin, plain, circular-section wire is soldered onto the plate within the twisted wires. All the wires are made by twisting. There is a hemispherical sheet at each point of the base-plate covering the wires with a granule soldered onto the centre of each. The main field is decorated with three cabochon garnets in a triangular arrangement, each in an individual collet. The two smaller ones have their collets squashed to size, since the latter were originally tear-shaped, but the present stones are circular and may be replacements. The collet of the bigger cabochon is notched around the edge and folded around it. This has a twisted-wire border with a granule soldered onto the base-plate above the centre of it.
- Production date
- 2ndC (?)
- Dimensions
-
Length: 2.60 millimetres
-
Weight: 2.89 grammes
-
Width: 2.20 centimetres
- Curator's comments
- Andrási 2008
There is a very similar pair of crescent-shaped gold earrings decorated with garnet inlays in the Collection of Burton Y. Berry.[1]
Comparative bibliography
1. Rudolph W. and Rudolph E. 1973, Ancient Jewelry from the Collection of Burton Y. Berry. Bloomington, 92 no. 71b, pl. 71
- Location
- Not on display
- Acquisition date
- 1923
- Department
- Greek and Roman
- Registration number
- 1981,0905.13
- Additional IDs
-
Miscellaneous number: 310 (old cat. no.)
-
Other BM number: 1923,0716.74 (M&LA Number)
