LOT 0271

Achaemenid Heavy Gold Earring Pair

CIRCA 6TH-4TH CENTURY B.C.

1 1/2 in. (23.78 grams total, 38 mm each).

A matched pair of large earrings decorated with pomegranates on the outer edge, the crescentic body divided in transversal grooves representing the abdomen of a bee, with granulation on the inner and outer edge, a horizontal gold wire with circlets to the centre. [2]

From a private family collection formed since the early 19th century, thence by descent.
Property of a New Zealand legal professional.

Accompanied by an academic report by Dr Raffaele D’Amato.
This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.12326-223715.
This lot has been cleared against the Art Loss Register database, and is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.

See very similar earrings in the Metropolitan Museum, accession no. 1995.180a,b; Schmidt, E.F., Persepolis I, Structures, Reliefs, Inscriptions, Chicago, 1953; Schmidt, E.F., Persepolis II, Contents of the Treasury and other discoveries, Chicago, 1957, pl.44 no.27; J.M., Gold Jewellery in Ptolemaic, Roman and Byzantine Egypt, In two volumes, Volume 2 – Figures, Durham, 1990; Ogden, J. and Williams, D., Greek Gold Jewelry of The Classical World, New York, 1994.

Fruit were generally considered to be a symbol of sensuality, temptation and fertility; the giving and accepting of fruit may be regarded as a symbolic sexual act, or at least a prelude to marriage. It follows naturally that the pomegranate, with its innumerable fleshy seeds symbolising life and fecundity, was an attribute of Aphrodite.