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

Greek

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

Gold

Length: 1.6 cm and 1.9 cm

The near pair of gold earrings, each composed of a finely-detailed head of a Maenad wearing a leafy wreath, with tiny horns, and beaded tresses falling at the cheeks. The...

The near pair of gold earrings, each composed of a finely-detailed head of a Maenad wearing a leafy wreath, with tiny horns, and beaded tresses falling at the cheeks. The heads emerge from multiple bands of granulation, the larger head 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, although not a complete matching pair, are fine examples 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 Ptolemaic examples of Maenads in the Metropolitan Museum, New York, acc. no. 26.7.1360a, b.

Publications

A. de Ridder, Collections de Clercq, Tome VII, Les bijoux et les pierres gravées, Paris, 1911, p. 56, no. 239 (one of a pair).

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