A pair of eastern greek gold earrings.
H. 50 mm; gr. 18,16 total

Granulation, laminate gold, filigree and column chains. Damaged and missing parts visible. Gold earrings with plain loops where are suspended pendent in form of rectangular gold plaque decorated with granulated triangle pattern. The edges decorated with granulated cones with three granules on top. A series of nine pending column chains are fixed to the gold plaques by circular loop. Each chains ends with a terminal box-shaped laminated gold plaque with granules. The triangle pattern is typical from oriental productions and style (NICOLINI, G., Techniques des ors antiques, p.563). The origin of this pattern is very ancient, the first examples where found in early Mesopotamian jewelry (4th millenary B.C.). At the beginning of the 3rd millenary, these patterns were executed with gold pearls on dog collars and on the famous Ur dagger. But the first granulated triangles came out in the Alalakh gold smithery, then in Egypt at the end of the New-Kingdom and in Cyprus, Carthage and Tharros to finally expand in Etruria during the 7th-6th century B.C.
6th century BC