1960.661.B: "Sappho" Earring
Jewelry
This object does not yet have a description.
Identification and Creation
- Object Number
- 1960.661.B
- Title
- "Sappho" Earring
- Classification
- Jewelry
- Work Type
- earring
- Date
- 4th century BCE
- Places
- Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World, Europe, Thessaly
- Period
- Classical period, Late, to Early Hellenistic
- Culture
- Greek
- Persistent Link
- https://hvrd.art/o/290593
Physical Descriptions
- Medium
- Gold
- Dimensions
- actual: 7.3 x 3 cm (2 7/8 x 1 3/16 in.)
Provenance
- Recorded Ownership History
-
Reportedly from a hoard found near Halmyros (ancient Halos), Greece, 1929 [1]. David M. Robinson, Baltimore, MD (by 1953), bequest; to the Fogg Art Museum, 1960.
[1] Robinson, D.M. 1953. "Unpublished Greek Gold Jewelry and Gems." American Journal of Archaeology 57 (1):5-19.
Acquisition and Rights
- Credit Line
- Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Bequest of David M. Robinson
- Accession Year
- 1960
- Object Number
- 1960.661.B
- Division
- Asian and Mediterranean Art
- Contact
- am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
- Permissions
-
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Descriptions
- Description
- Earring. Rosette with garnet in center supports four chains which attach to platform containing small female playing lyre among trefoil leaves. At corners of platform, four volutes suspend ribbed ball pendants. Beneath platform, five balls and finial.
- Commentary
-
The Mediterranean saw an enormous influx of wealth after the conquest of the Persian Empire by Alexander the Great in the 330s BCE. New techniques, forms, and materials for jewelry were introduced to a the cosmopolitian elite of wealthier society that wanted fashionable, luxurious goods, especially in gold. Earrings proliferated in the Hellenistic period and are often found preserved in tombs or as dedications in sanctuaries. Jewelry was worn in daily life, making a pair of earrings like these a fitting grave good to accompany the dead to provide them comfort in the afterlife.
These earrings were thought by archaeologist David M. Robinson to have been part of a hoard of jewelry and coins reportedly found at Halmyrus, Thessaly, northern Greece, in 1929 and distributed on the market [1]. Robinson called the female figure “Sappho” after the Greek female poet from the island of Lesbos, on account of the figure's lyre, but noted that she could just as well represent a muse.
[1] Robinson, D.M. 1953. "Unpublished Greek Gold Jewelry and Gems." American Journal of Archaeology 57 (1):5-19.
Publication History
- David M. Robinson, "Unpublished Greek Gold Jewelry and Gems", American Journal of Archaeology, Archaeological Institute of America (New York, 1953), vol. 57, no. 1, pp. 5-19, pp. 15-16, pl. 21 fig. 42, pl. 22 fig. 43, pl. 23 fig. 44
- Ancient Art in American Private Collections, exh. cat., Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, MA, 1954), no. 309.
Exhibition History
- Ancient Art in American Private Collections, Fogg Art Museum, 12/28/1954 - 02/15/1955
- The David Moore Robinson Bequest of Classical Art and Antiquities: A Special Exhibition, Fogg Art Museum, 05/01/1961 - 09/20/1961
- A World Within Reach: Greek and Roman Art from the Loeb Collection, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 01/28/2023 - 05/07/2023
Related Objects
Verification Level
This record was created from historic documentation and may not have been reviewed by a curator; it may be inaccurate or incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Asian and Mediterranean Art at am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu