Western Asiatic Gold Nose Ring with Lion Head Terminals

£ 450.00

A fine Western Asiatic gold nose ornament, featuring an ovoid hoop shape, composed of two curved square-sectioned arms extending from a coiled spring at the centre. Flanking the spring, two lion heads, with their mouths agape, have been depicted. They face upwards, towards the centre coil, with their facial features such as their eyes, nose, mouth, and lips carefully rendered with incisions and granules. A thick rectangular collar of fine granulation represents their manes behind their heads.

Date: Circa 1st Millennium BC
Provenance: From the property of a late Japanese collector, 1970s-2000s.
Condition: Excellent condition. Some minor encrustation and tarnishing to the gold. Slight wear and scratching to the surface as consistent with its age.

SOLD

SKU: CF-85 Category: Tags: , ,

Jewellery is thought to be one of the oldest forms of art within history, with the presence of rings, bangles and necklaces’ being present in almost all ancient societies. Many grand civilisations inhabited the area of Western Asia in Antiquity, and their wealth and prosperity is witnessed by the very sophisticated, interesting, and unique styles of jewellery discovered in the area. Gold would have been hammered down to a thin layer and manipulated into different shapes. Gold, electrum and silver jewellery would have featured gold granules, glass and semi-precious stone inlays and detailed engravings. Fine granulation, as we can see on this item, along with filigree, were at the centre of Near Eastern and Western Asiatic jewellery production and were later adopted by the Greeks, Etruscans and Romans.

To discover more on ancient metalwork, please see our relevant blog post: Decorative  Metalwork Techniques

Weight 3.72 g
Dimensions L 2.4 x W 1.8 cm
Culture

Region

Metal

You may also like…