- Museum number
- 128797
- Description
-
Copper alloy ear-ring; cast; approximately circular plain hoop; broken in the circuit to allow it to pass through the ear; part of the circumference is decorated with eight small spheres on the outer edge.
- Production date
- 1000BC-500BC
- Dimensions
-
Weight: 6.50 grammes
-
Width: 1.75 inches
- Curator's comments
- Pair with 1936,0613.191 (BM.128798).
Three similar examples, with 8, 10 or 11 globules, in the Ashmolean Museum, with others excavated in the cemetery at Khurvin and reportedly from Luristan on the art market (P.R.S. Moorey, Catalogue of the Ancient Persian Bronzes in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford 1971, p. 229, pl. 60, cat. nos 407-409; cf. also R. Kontani, T. Adachi & T. Ohtsu, eds, Treasures from Ancient Iran: Metalworking Culture in the Mountains, Okayama 2002, pp. 37, 123 (English catalogue description), cat. no. 91, illustrated upside-down, decorated with 9 globules and diameter of 4.5 cm.). A pair of such earrings were also recovered in 1938 from a grave, and thus identified as belonging to a woman, at the site of Chujale in Luristan, where they were described as "wire loops with small globes on the lower side, a type already known" (Schmidt et al. 1989, p. 33 = Holmes Expedition to Luristan).
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
Exhibited:
1995-2005 17 Nov-8 Dec BM, G52/IRAN/18/23, from official opening
1994 16 Jun-23 Dec BM, G49/IRAN/18
1975-ca 1990 Jul- BM, Iranian Room [IR], case 5, nos 38-39 (part)
BM, Iranian Room [IR] case 1/c.
- Acquisition date
- 1936
- Acquisition notes
- The acquisition of this collection was highlighted in the 'Annual Report of the General Progress of the Museums for the year 1936' (BM BM (Natural History) 1937, pp. 10-11) as "A large collection of pottery, terracotta figurines, bronzes, seals and amulets, mainly from Persia, varying in date from before 3000 B.C., and for the most part from known sites; specially selected to illustrate periods not hitherto represented, or inadequately represented, in the collection".
- Department
- Middle East
- BM/Big number
- 128797
- Registration number
- 1936,0613.190
