Earring with pendant eagle grasping thunderbolts

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Earring with pendant eagle grasping thunderbolts

Place of OriginHellenistic

Dateabout 220-130 BCE

Dimensions1 1/2 × 7/8 × 1/2 in. (3.8 × 2.2 × 1.3 cm)

MediumGold; repoussé, filigree, granulation

ClassificationJewelry

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

2007.10

On View

Toledo Museum of Art (2445 Monroe Street), Gallery, 02, Classic

DescriptionMulti-part earring, consisting of an elaborate gold sheet disc with granulated and filigree rosette attached to the wire ear loop, two double side pendants of plain and granulated beads, and a central pendant of an eagle grasping a thunderbolt with his talons. The eagle's body, outspread wings, feet, and thunderbolts were made of sheet gold and filigree; the body was completely covered with minute granulation.

Label TextThis magnificent earring represents Zeus, the king of the gods, as an eagle. The wings, talons, and thunderbolts are sheet gold and filigree; the body is covered with tiny granules of gold. Miniature sculptures of birds and mythological flying creatures were popular pendants for women’s earrings.Published ReferencesAntiquarium Ltd., Ancient Treasures II (December 2004), p. 15. Antiquities sale no. 9832, Christie's, South Kensington, 28 April 2004, p. 109, lot 399. Enotria Crescenzi, Artenotria, Stand K32, Grays Mews Antique Market 1-7 Davies Mewa, Mayfair, London W1K 5AB. Published on website: www.artentoria. com, where it can still be viewed as of 23 February 2007. Cf. F.H. Marshall, Catalogue of the Jewellery, Greek, Etruscan, and Roman, in the Department of Antiquities, British Museum (London: Trustees of the British Museum, 1911). Cf. Marc Rosenberg (1852-1930), Geschichte der Goldschmiedekunst auf Technischer Grundlage. Absteilung: Granulation (Frankfurt am Main: H. Keller, 1908-1922), vol. 3 (1918) p. 17, figs. 26-28. Cf. Barbara Deppert-Lippitz, Griechischer Goldschmuck (Kulturgeschichte der antiken Welt 27; Mainz am Rhein: Verlagh Philipp von Zabern, 1985) 250, 260, Taf. XXVII (granulated earring, from Sicily, Gold, H ca. 3.5 cm; Syracuse, Museo Archeologico). Cf. Dyfri Williams and Jack Ogden, Greek Gold: Jewelry of the Classical World, exhibition catalogue, The Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1994). Cf. Pier Giovanni Guzzo, "The Jewelry of the Western Greeks," in Giovanni Publiese Carratelli ed., The Greek World: Art and Civilization in Magna Graecia and Sicily, exhibition catalogue, Palazzo Grassi, Venice (New York: Rizzoli, 1996) 471-480 and cat. nos. 300-326.Exhibition HistoryAntiquarium, Ltd., New York, November 2004 - February 2007.