This pendant earring is one of a pair that arrived at the Louvre as part of the Durand Collection in 1825.
Made up of several stacked components - a lenticular garnet attached to an S-shaped hook, followed by a cylindrical emerald bead, and finally a pearl suspended from the end of a beaded wire - this...
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This pendant earring is one of a pair that arrived at the Louvre as part of the Durand Collection in 1825.
Made up of several stacked components - a lenticular garnet attached to an S-shaped hook, followed by a cylindrical emerald bead, and finally a pearl suspended from the end of a beaded wire - this very fine model perfectly illustrates the Roman taste for jewellery that combined metals and gems of various colours and shapes. Here, the shine of the gold harmonises beautifully with the iridescence of the three beads of different shapes, strung together by three different wires. Based on a simpler model, this earring type dates from the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD - a period when hardstones from the Near East were readily available.
175 / 225 (4th quarter II century AD; 1st quarter III century AD)
Place of creation: Italy (?)
Department of Greek, Etruscan and Roman Antiquities
© GrandPalaisRmn (Musée du Louvre) / Stéphane Maréchalle
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