MAGNA GRAECIA, HELLENISTIC PERIOD, CIRCA EARLY 2ND CENTURY B.C.

Each earring is composed of a disk centered by a sheet rosette with a granule at the center, encircled by petals rimmed with filigree and framed by rings of granulation and filigree. Above are spiraling tendrils and a blossom of filigree and granulation, forming a stylized Isis crown, with a hooked ear wire on the reverse. Suspended from the disks is a pendant in the form of an eagle holding Zeus’ thunderbolt within its talons (only one preserved). The eagle’s body is ornamented with dense granulation, the spread wings with filigree and granulation. The eagle is flanked by double tassels of globular plain beads interspersed with granulated rings, with granulated clusters at the tips and a sheet disk at the top. To the eagle’s left is a smaller bird adorned with green and white enamel.

This pair belongs to a group of Hellenistic earrings with bird pendants ornamented with dense granulation, all from South Italy and Sicily. For an example in the Museo Archeologico Regionale Paolo Orsi in Syracuse, see pl. XXVII in B. Deppert-Lippitz, Griechischer Goldschmuck, and for two pairs from the Rosenberg Collection, see M. Rosenberg, Geschichte der Goldschmiedekunst auf Technischer Grundlage, Abteilung: Granulation, figs. 26 & 27. For related South Italian earrings surmounted by the Isis crown, see E.M. De Juliis, Gli Ori di Taranto in Età Ellenistica, nos. 79, 80, 82 and 83.