A PAIR OF GREEK GOLD MAENAD EARRINGS

HELLENISTIC PERIOD, CIRCA 3RD-2ND CENTURY B.C.

Details

A PAIR OF GREEK GOLD MAENAD EARRINGS
HELLENISTIC PERIOD, CIRCA 3RD-2ND CENTURY B.C.
Each with a tapering hoop formed from four ropes of two coiled wires, merging into a hook looped through a ring at the back of the head, the spool-shaped collar with two ridges of beaded wire, the terminal in the form of a finely-modelled head of a maenad, each with a crown of ivy and berries in her curly hair, with incised strands along the cheeks, one with a band across the forehead and a diminutive Egyptianizing crown formed of a solar disk and cow horns, and one with a crosshatched trapezoidal pendant along the forehead
1¼ in. (3.1 cm.) wide (2)

Provenance

Private Collection, England.
Art Market, London, 1989.

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Lot Essay

Maenad-headed earrings were one of the most popular Hellenistic types (see nos. 1684-1707 in Marshall, Catalogue of the Jewellery, Greek, Etruscan and Roman in the Departments of the Antiquities, British Museum). The pair presented here is unusual in terms of the large size and the fact that the heads have different attributes.

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