Pair of Hellenistic gold earrings with gazelle head terminals
4th-3rd century BC
Diameter: 1.7 cm
Provenance: Collection of Argini Benaki Salvagos, Europe, acquired 1930s and thence by descent to Stefanos Vallis.
The hoops of twisted gold wire, terminating in gazelle heads. The hoops taper to a point which hook through a loop attached below the chins of the animals. Both delicately crafted heads with finely modelled facial features including nostrils and brows, eyes hollowed for inlay (evidence of the inlay surviving in one eye). Long twisted horns curling back over the neck, both these and the fine, alert ears separately made and attached. The necks decorated with circles and tongues of slim gold wire.
Condition: Intact but missing eye inlays
Literature: Similar earrings with animal head terminals are illustrated in Dr. Yuri Kalashnik, 'Greek Gold from the Treasure Rooms of the Hermitage', Amsterdam 2004, p.46, nos.20 and 21, p.108, no.70.
Described as 'one of Europe's most beautiful women, the toast of Paris in her youth', Argini Benaki Salvagos, was the grande dame of Alexandrian society in the 1930s. She was a passionate collector herself and from a dynasty of collectors. Her brother, Antony, bequeathed the family home in Athens and much of his personal collection to found the Benaki Museum in 1931.
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4th-3rd century BC
Diameter: 1.7 cm
Provenance: Collection of Argini Benaki Salvagos, Europe, acquired 1930s and thence by descent to Stefanos Vallis.
The hoops of twisted gold wire, terminating in gazelle heads. The hoops taper to a point which hook through a loop attached below the chins of the animals. Both delicately crafted heads with finely modelled facial features including nostrils and brows, eyes hollowed for inlay (evidence of the inlay surviving in one eye). Long twisted horns curling back over the neck, both these and the fine, alert ears separately made and attached. The necks decorated with circles and tongues of slim gold wire.
Condition: Intact but missing eye inlays
Literature: Similar earrings with animal head terminals are illustrated in Dr. Yuri Kalashnik, 'Greek Gold from the Treasure Rooms of the Hermitage', Amsterdam 2004, p.46, nos.20 and 21, p.108, no.70.
Described as 'one of Europe's most beautiful women, the toast of Paris in her youth', Argini Benaki Salvagos, was the grande dame of Alexandrian society in the 1930s. She was a passionate collector herself and from a dynasty of collectors. Her brother, Antony, bequeathed the family home in Athens and much of his personal collection to found the Benaki Museum in 1931.
Enquire
4th-3rd century BC
Diameter: 1.7 cm
Provenance: Collection of Argini Benaki Salvagos, Europe, acquired 1930s and thence by descent to Stefanos Vallis.
The hoops of twisted gold wire, terminating in gazelle heads. The hoops taper to a point which hook through a loop attached below the chins of the animals. Both delicately crafted heads with finely modelled facial features including nostrils and brows, eyes hollowed for inlay (evidence of the inlay surviving in one eye). Long twisted horns curling back over the neck, both these and the fine, alert ears separately made and attached. The necks decorated with circles and tongues of slim gold wire.
Condition: Intact but missing eye inlays
Literature: Similar earrings with animal head terminals are illustrated in Dr. Yuri Kalashnik, 'Greek Gold from the Treasure Rooms of the Hermitage', Amsterdam 2004, p.46, nos.20 and 21, p.108, no.70.
Described as 'one of Europe's most beautiful women, the toast of Paris in her youth', Argini Benaki Salvagos, was the grande dame of Alexandrian society in the 1930s. She was a passionate collector herself and from a dynasty of collectors. Her brother, Antony, bequeathed the family home in Athens and much of his personal collection to found the Benaki Museum in 1931.