Greek, A pair of Greek gold earrings in the form of Maenad heads, Hellenistic, circa 4th - 3rd century BC

Greek

A pair of Greek gold earrings in the form of Maenad heads, Hellenistic, circa 4th - 3rd century BC

Gold

Length: 2.6 cm

Each composed of a finely-detailed head of a Maenad wearing a leafy wreath, with small horns in her hair and beaded tresses falling at the cheeks. The heads emerge from...

Each composed of a finely-detailed head of a Maenad wearing a leafy wreath, with small horns in her hair and beaded tresses falling at the cheeks. The heads emerge from multiple bands of granulation with very fine filigree triangles below. The ear hoops are composed of spiralled wire, secured by loops at the back of the Maenad's head.

Provenance

Louis de Clercq (1882-1901) Collection, Oignies, France, acquired in the late 19th century, thence by descent to his grand-nephew Comte Henri de Boisgelin (1901 – 1967), rue de Mazarine, Paris

Literature

These earrings are a fine example of Maenad heads and more unusually, with small horns in the hair. They probably depict a Levantine variant of such Bacchic subjects. There are similar but less impressive Ptolemaic examples of Maenads in the Metropolitan Museum, New York, acc. no. 26.7.1360a.

Publications

A. de Ridder, Collections de Clercq, Tome VII, Les bijoux et les pierres gravées, Paris, 1911, p. 55, nos. 235-236.

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