Earring thumbnail 1
Image of Gallery in South Kensington
On display at V&A South Kensington
Jewellery, Rooms 91, The William and Judith Bollinger Gallery

Earring

200 BC-100 BC (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

The bull-heads are formed in embossed sheet gold halves (left and right) and are carefully detailled. The collars are decorated with grains and filigree. The hoop is formed of plain wires, coiling around an inner gold tube, all hammered into a single wire at the point. The loop in the bull's mouth close the hoop.

Representations of women wearing similar earrings on terracottas and bronze mirrors suggest that most of these earrings were worn with the head at the front but upside-down.

Lion-head earrings are the earliest type in the long series of animal-head hoop earrings including bulls, goats, antelopes, rams. They seem to have been first developped in Etruria (Italy) but have been found in most parts of the Greek World. The garnet set on the bull's forehead suggests that the earrings were made during the hellenistic period, when colour played an important part in jewellery.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Parts
This object consists of 2 parts.

  • Earring
  • Earring
Materials and techniques
Gold, garnet
Brief description
Pair of earrings with the head of a bull; Greek world, about 200-100 BC; embossed shette gold, with filigree, granulation and garnet
Physical description
Pair of gold earrings. Each earring is hollow, ending in a bull-head set with a garnet.
Dimensions
  • Depth: 1.2cm
Style
Credit line
Bequeathed by Mr John George Joicey
Production
Greek world
Subject depicted
Summary
The bull-heads are formed in embossed sheet gold halves (left and right) and are carefully detailled. The collars are decorated with grains and filigree. The hoop is formed of plain wires, coiling around an inner gold tube, all hammered into a single wire at the point. The loop in the bull's mouth close the hoop.

Representations of women wearing similar earrings on terracottas and bronze mirrors suggest that most of these earrings were worn with the head at the front but upside-down.

Lion-head earrings are the earliest type in the long series of animal-head hoop earrings including bulls, goats, antelopes, rams. They seem to have been first developped in Etruria (Italy) but have been found in most parts of the Greek World. The garnet set on the bull's forehead suggests that the earrings were made during the hellenistic period, when colour played an important part in jewellery.
Collection
Accession number
M.301&A-1919

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Record createdApril 28, 2005
Record URL
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