Ear-Rings thumbnail 1
Image of Gallery in South Kensington
On display at V&A South Kensington
South Asia Gallery, Room 41

Ear-Rings

Sculpture
1st-2nd century A.D. (made)

Earrings with a pearl and three seed pearls and gold dolphins
This gold earring is arranged in two main portions, the upper having a pearl spacer to a small old finial on top and a ring flanked by two fishes below, from which hang three golden chains each having a small pendant pearl.


Object details

Category
Jewellery
Object type
Sculpture
TitleEar-Rings (generic title)
Materials and techniques
Gold
Brief description
Earrings, Gold, Taxila (?), Punjab, 1st-3rd century A.D
Physical description
Earrings with a pearl and three seed pearls and gold dolphins
This gold earring is arranged in two main portions, the upper having a pearl spacer to a small old finial on top and a ring flanked by two fishes below, from which hang three golden chains each having a small pendant pearl.
Dimensions
  • Height: 4.2cm
Object history
From the collection of Major-General H.L. Haughto, CB, CIE, CBE., 1948
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
Bibliographic references
  • Barnard, Nick, Indian Jewellery: The V&A Collection London: V&A Publishing, 2008 Number: ISBN 9781851774838 p. 117, pl. 6.12 PUBLISHED 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 Royal Academy: Sir Leigh Ashton - The Art of India and Pakistan 1947/8, Cat. No.162.
  • 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.19-1948

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Record createdFebruary 13, 2000
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O24945/ear-rings-sculpture/
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