Pair of Earrings or Hair Ringlets with Ram Head

Description

The main spiral body of this ornament is made from a hollow tube, decorated in the center with a double palmette. Each end of the ornament is capped with a ram’s head above an elaborate collar. There are no join seams on the main tube, meaning it must have been cast as a spiral or otherwise as a tapered tube that was then bent into shape. Scholars believe that these helical pieces were used as earrings (perhaps with a separate attachment) or to hold hair in place.

Provenance

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Pair of Earrings or Hair Ringlets with Ram Head

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400s BCE

Accession Number

1968.102

Medium

gold

Dimensions

Overall: 3.5 cm (1 3/8 in.)

Classification

Jewelry

Museum

The Cleveland Museum of Art

Cleveland, United States

Credit Line

Norman O. Stone and Ella A. Stone Memorial Fund