LATE HELLENISTIC, CIRCA 2ND-1ST CENTURY B.C.

The present earring is of a well-known type using Egyptian crowns, otherwise known as 'crown of Isis' as part of their decoration, found all over the eastern Mediterranean. The crown is formed of a sun disc and feather motif. Below is a circular rosette with a cabochon garnet center, which would have originally been bounded by a row of pearls, now missing. Below there is a drop pendant figure of Eros playing a lyre and wearing the skin garments associated with Attis. Cf. B. Deppert-Lippitz, Griechischer Goldschmuck, Mainz am Rhein, 1985, colour pl. XXXI for a pair of similar earrings in the British Museum (inv. no. 1906,0411.1).