A PAIR OF EASTERN ROMAN GOLD AND GARNET EARRINGS CIRCA 2ND CENTURY A.D.

拍品描述

A PAIR OF EASTERN ROMAN GOLD AND GARNET EARRINGS, CIRCA 2ND CENTURY A.D. Each earring composed of a circular gold disc surmount enclosing an oval garnet cabochon in a plain collet setting, framed by two concentric bands of twisted filigree wire and finished at the summit with a small granulated bead above the suspension loop. From the lower edge of each disc hangs a small ring supporting a tapering gold stem terminating in paired scrolled volutes at the shoulder, from which is suspended a garnet bead carved in the round as a human head, seated upon a collar of gold granules arranged in a small cluster. The two heads differ in the tone of the stone, one of deeper wine-red and the other of dark aubergine, both carved with rounded cranium, smooth hair drawn close to the skull, almond eyes and a small closed mouth. The carved heads are of a type widely produced in the eastern Mediterranean workshops of the Roman imperial period, where garnet, chalcedony and other hardstones were worked into miniature portrait beads for use as pendants and earring drops. The features here, with the hair pulled back from a centrally parted brow and the neck cut flat for mounting, follow a female portrait convention familiar from glass and stone heads of the Antonine period. The disc-and-drop composition itself belongs to a well-established Roman earring typology in which a cabochon set within filigree bezels is paired with a pendent element on a short bar, a scheme found across Syria, Egypt and Asia Minor from the first through third centuries A.D. Garnet held a particular place in Roman personal ornament of this date. Imported principally from India and Sri Lanka along the trade routes that connected the eastern provinces to the Indian Ocean, the deep red stone was prized both for its saturated colour, read against gold, and for the amuletic associations attached to it in Greek and Latin lapidary tradition, where it was linked with blood, vitality and protection. Its use in matched pairs, and in combination with figural carving, indicates a commission of some standing rather than everyday adornment. The gold work, with its doubled filigree frames, granulated finials and looped suspension, reflects the technical repertoire of eastern provincial goldsmiths trained in the Hellenistic tradition and continuing its methods well into the imperial centuries. The pairing of a gemstone cabochon above and a figural hardstone drop below is characteristic of a small group of luxury earrings in which the wearer displays both the material value of the stone and the sculptural skill of the lapidary within a single ornament. The survival of both drops intact, and as a matched pair, is uncommon, as the carved heads were fragile at the neck and frequently lost. This pair exemplifies the refined convergence of Roman goldsmithing and eastern hardstone carving in the second century, when garnet portrait drops were among the most ambitious productions of provincial jewellery workshops. The retention of the full composition, disc, bar, volute and carved head, places them within the better-preserved examples of their type. Dimensions: Height: 4.5 cm; Total Weight: 10 g

图片