Earring thumbnail 1
On display
Image of Gallery in South Kensington

Earring

1st century-2nd century (made)
Artist/Maker
Unknown
Place of origin
Taxila (made)

A pendant with a miniature vase of turquoise and stylised gold dolphins.

Object details

Category
Jewellery
Object type
Earring
Materials and techniques
Sheet gold, with applied wire and granular decoration, and turquoise
Gold
Brief description
Gold Earring, Taxila (?), Punjab, 1st-3rd century A.D.
Physical description
A pendant with a miniature vase of turquoise and stylised gold dolphins.
Dimensions
  • Height: 4.4cm
  • Width: 1in
Style
Kushan
Object history
From the collection of Major-General H.L. Haughton, CB, CIE, CBE, 1948. A similar rosette element from an earring was sold at Bonhams, New York, 17 March 2014, lot 82.
Historical context
These ear-rings are made from sheet gold, cut into shape and embellished with gold granules and wire decoration. Two have vase-shaped pendants set with either a turquoise or a pearl bead, and a third has a pendant composed of a gold spherical bead and a turquoise bead set in a granulated gold mount. The mounts are entirely foreign to the subcontinent and derive from Greek or Hellenistic sources; this is perhaps most obvious in the use of the dolphin motif. The exact find-place of these ear-rings is not known and the dating remains tentative.
Production
Taxila (?), Punjab, Pakistan
Subject depicted
Flower
Bibliographic references
  • H. Buchtal, " The Haughton Collection of Gandharan Sculpture", The Burlington Magazine, Vol LXXXVI, 1945, p.66, pl.1A. J. C. Harle in S. Stronge (ed), A Golden Treasury. Jewellery from the Indian Subcontinent, 1988, nos. 3-6 Barnard, Nick. ‘Indian Jewellery : The V&A Collection’. London : V&A Publishing, 2008. ISBN 9781851774838, p.116, pl.6.12.
  • Swallow, Deborah and John Guy eds. Arts of India: 1550-1900. text by Rosemary Crill, John Guy, Veronica Murphy, Susan Stronge and Deborah Swallow. London : V&A Publications, 1990. 240 p., ill. ISBN 1851770224,p.23, no.8.
  • Gandharan Buddhist reliquaries / David Jongeward, Elizabeth Errington, Richard Salomon, Stefan Baums. Seattle: Early Buddhist Manuscripts Project, [2012], ©2012 Number: 9780295992365 (hardback), 0295992360 (hardback) Fig. 3.53
Collection
South & South East Asia Collection
Accession number
IS.16-1948

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Record createdDecember 15, 1999
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O17694/earring-unknown/
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