Large Roman Gold Earrings with Granulation

£ 1,495.00

A very fine pair of Roman gold earrings featuring a large hoop enriched with an engraved twisting effect. One end tapers to a point in which it hooks into a smaller loop. A large gold, concave boss sits at the front of the earring. Underneath is a cluster of seven large granules with smaller granulation below.

Measurements are roughly between the pair.

Date: 2nd-3rd century AD
Provenance: Acquired between 1950-1970s. Ex Swiss private collection.
Condition: Very fine condition, some encrustation to the surface. Minor indentations to some of the granules and the bosses consistent with age. Small piercing to two granules.

In stock

SKU: LD-807 Category: Tag:

Ancient Roman jewellery was an essential public display of wealth. Roman jewellery at first followed the trends set be the Etruscans. As the Roman empire grew, jewellery designs and materials became even more elaborate, incorporating different cultural styles from Greece, Egypt, North Africa and the East. Earrings such as this fine example, would have been worn by straightening the pointed, gold wire through the pierced ear and then twisting it so that the earring would not open again.

Granulation (from the Latin ‘granum’ meaning ‘grain’) was the technique used by Roman jewellers to create the miniature gold spheres which adorn the hoops. It involved making tiny gold granules and then attaching them individually to the base piece. The oldest known examples made with this process date back to 2500BC and were found in the tombs of Ur, in Mesopotamia. From there, the technique spread through Syria and reached its peak with the Etruscans in the 7th-6th centuries BC.

To find out more about different metal decorative techniques please see our relevant blog post: Decorative Metalwork Techniques

Weight 7.39 g
Dimensions L 4.5 x W 2.2 cm
Culture

Metal

Region

Reference: For a similar item,The Metropolitan Museum, item 08.251.5,.6

You may also like…