As in many ancient societies, jewellery was an important social marker used to demonstrate wealth and richness. In Ancient Greek culture jewellery was worn in everyday life but was also buried with the deceased as part of his or her funerary outfit. Jewellery might have been enriched by precious and semi-precious stones and decorative motives would have included popular myths, gods, goddesses, and heroes. In Ancient Greek and Roman mythology dolphins were associated with the sea and with the sphere of sensual love, bearing an amatory symbolism. Because of the assonance between the ancient Greek word delphis, δελφίς, meaning dolphin, and the word delphus, δελφύς, meaning womb, dolphins were considered animals sacred to Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love, fertility and desire.
Greek Hellenistic Gold Amphora Shaped Pendant with Pearl
£ 600.00
A finely modelled Ancient Greek Hellenistic gold miniature pendant in the shape of an amphora. The pendant features a transparent blue glass bead, below a small cream spherical pearl. The pendant is further enriched with two handles, modelled in a sheet of gold, one on either side of the suspension loop. The handles resemble a dolphin like shape, with details of a tail and evidence of fins on a curling body. A further gold loop has been threaded through the suspension loop. The pendant might have originally been part of an earring; earrings with amphorae pendants have been largely recovered from Greek and Roman territories.
Condition: Very fine condition
SOLD
| Weight | 3.0 g |
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| Dimensions | L 2.6 x W 1.2 cm |
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| Semi-Precious Stones |
