A Pair of Greek Gold Earrings, Magna Graecia, circa late 4th-early 3rd Century B.C.
Lot 15. A Pair of Greek Gold Earrings, Magna Graecia, circa late 4th-early 3rd Century B.C. Heights 5.7 cm. Estimate 15,000 — 25,000 GBP. Courtesy Sotheby's.
each composed of a disk with beaded perimeter centering a repoussé lion mask within a border of beaded scrolling filigree, a small rosette forming the link to the pendant below, each pendant in the form of an inverted pyramid ornamented with globules, filigree leaves, and palmettes, the biconical finial missing on one earring.
acquired from the above by George and Rosemary Lois in 1968.
Literature: Andre Emmerich Gallery, Inc. New York, Art of the Ancients: Greeks, Etruscans and Romans, An exhibition organized in cooperation with Münzen und Medaillen AG, Basle, Switzerland, February 7th-March 13th, 1968, no. 42, illus.
Tribal Art Magazine, vol. XVIII:2, no. 71, Spring 2014, p. 137
Note: For a pair of very similar earrings see D. Williams and J. Ogden, Greek Gold, Jewelry of the Classical World, 1994, no. 214, p. 214 (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, acc. no. 26.209.1-2). For more elaborate examples compare F.H. Marshall, Catalogue of the Jewellery, Greek, Etruscan, and Roman, in the Departments of Antiquities, British Museum, 1911, pl. XXX, nos. 1664-1672.
Sotheby's. Ancient Sculpture and Works of Art, London, 03 Jul 2018, 04:00 PM