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Courtesy of the Georges Ricard Foundation and the California Institute of World Archaeology
Basket Earring
Courtesy of the Georges Ricard Foundation and the California Institute of World Archaeology
Courtesy of the Georges Ricard Foundation and the California Institute of World Archaeology
Courtesy of the Georges Ricard Foundation and the California Institute of World Archaeology
ClassificationsAncient Near Eastern Art

Basket Earring

Possible OriginTroy, Turkey, Asia
Possible OriginGreece, Europe
PeriodEarly Bronze Age - Middle Bronze Age
Date2500-1600 BCE
MediumGold
Credit LineGift of the Georges Ricard Foundation
Dimensions13/16 x 9/16 in., 3/16 in., 1 g (2.1 x 1.5 cm, 0.5 cm, 1/16 oz.)
Object number2018.010.1118B
Label TextGreek and Near Eastern jewelry of the mid-to-late third millennium BCE exhibit an “international style” tied to the long-distance trade networks that crossed Asia and the Aegean. Delicate gold jewelry decorated with filigree and granulation were favored by aristocratic women over 4,400 years ago.

This gold “basket” earring was common at the Early Bronze Age sites of Poliochni (Lemnos, Greece) and Troy in northwest Turkey. The basket is formed by a thin sheet of metal cast with ridges in imitation of a layer of wires soldered together. The top of the basket is decorated with small horizontal rows of granulation. The bottom of the basket is pierced by five holes, that once held delicate, gold chains or leaves. The basket-shaped earring was inserted via the attached hook at the top into the pierced ear.

ProvenancePurchased by Georges Ricard (1921-2012) from Hotel des Ventes, Marseille, France, November 29, 1974, lot 73 (part). Ex coll. Musée de l'Égypte et le Monde Antique, Collection Sanousrit, Monaco, 1975-1982. Ex coll. Georges Ricard Foundation, Santa Barbara, California.
Status
Not on view
Collections
  • Ancient Egyptian, Nubian, and Near Eastern Art