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Top, left: 52.4.5 or .6; Top, right: 52.4.7 or .8; Bottom, left: 52.4.11 or .12; Bottom, right: 52.4.1 or .2; Light background
Artwork Details
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Title:Earring, One of a Pair
Date:11th–12th century
Geography:Found Iran, probably Gurgan
Medium:Gold wire and sheets with filigree
Dimensions:H. 1 in. (2.5 cm) W. 13/16 in. (2 cm) D. 5/16 in. (0.8 cm)
Classification:Jewelry
Credit Line:Rogers Fund, 1952
Object Number:52.4.12
Four Pairs of Gold Earrings: 52.4.5 and .6, 52.5.7 and .8, 52.4.1 and .2, 54.4.11 and .12
Two of the four pairs of earrings bear strong points of comparison with either the "dated" bracelets (MMA 57.88a–c and Freer Gallery 58.6) or one or more of the earrings that are associated with them (MMA nos. 1979.7.4, 1979.96 and 1979.7.3a, b). Pair 52.4.1, .2, which originally must have been set with a stone or a piece of glass, bears strips of flattened wire forming heart-shape elements identical to those on no. 1979.7.4. Such strips are also present on the clasp of the "dated" bracelets, where, instead of forming heart-shape elements terminating in circles, flat strips are arranged in S-shape designs terminating in circles. The cage pendant from the hoop of this earring is very similar to the one on the single earring no. 1979.96. The three loops at the base of the earring originally must have held pendant elements.
No. 52.5.7, .8, which also must have been set with a stone or a piece of glass, may be compared to no. 1979.7.3a, b. Twisted wire cylinders between each of the three elements are found on both pairs of earrings, and the method of construction is the same: the heavy round ear wire serves also as the stringing wire for the three beads and passes through the center of each.
The relation of no. 54.4.11, .12 to no. 52.4.1, .2 is evident, even as regards the element that originally projected from the hoop. The stone in this case is quartz glazed to imitate turquoise. The bead at the back of the earring is very similar to the three comprising no. 52.4.5, .6. The latter pair, as with nos. 52.5.7, .8 and 1979.7.3a, b, is constructed of three beads strung on the continuous heavy ear wire and separated by a spacer–in this case a bead constructed solely of large grains.
It is often difficult to determine whether pieces of different quality but of the same general type are contemporaneous or whether the finer pieces precede or succeed those of lesser quality. We cannot, for instance, determine on which side of the datable group these four pairs fall. What can be said, however, is that there are many variations of the three-bead or three-element earring in early medieval Iran; a large number of similar earrings found in Russian excavations (in the region between the Sea of Azov and Moscow) have been dated between 1170 and 1240, mainly on the basis of associated coin hoards (e.g.,by Korzukhina[1]) This evidence, together with that put forward here, suggests a date safely within the early medieval period—i.e., from the eleventh century to the thirteenth, and an origin in Greater Iran.
[Jenkins and Keene 1983]
Footnotes:
1. Korzukhina, G. F. Russkie Kindy IX-Xlllvv. Moscow, 1954, pls. XXXI, XXXIII, XLV, XLVIII.
Pair of Earrings (MMA 52.4.11, .12)
The single feature most significant in determining the date and place of manufacture of these earrings is the heart-shaped filigree element made of flat wire, the ends of which coil around to form an interior circle. A pair of bracelets with the same motif (one in the Metropolitan, and the other in the Freer Gallery in Washington) bear on the undersides of their centerpieces discs of thin gold that have been pounced over coins of Mahmud of Ghazna that were probably relatively new and struck in Nishapur between A.D. 999/1000 and 1028. This and other data indicate that the bracelets are probably of Iranian manufacture and of the first half of the eleventh century, and this pair of earrings should not be placed far away in time and place. Certain other earrings of the general type to which these belong are further related to the above-mentioned bracelets through sharing a peculiar type of clasp terminal, further strengthening the date and regional attribution.
Manuel Keene in [Berlin 1981]
Majid and Feraidoon Movaghar, Tehran and New York (until 1952; sold to MMA)
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Islamic Jewelry in The Metropolitan Museum of Art," April 22–August 14, 1983, no. 21d.
"Masterpieces from The Metropolitan Museum of Art New York." In The Arts of Islam. Berlin, 1981. no. 42, pp. 114–15, ill. (b/w).
Jenkins-Madina, Marilyn, and Manuel Keene. Islamic Jewelry in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1983. no. 21d, pp. 48–9, ill. p. 49 (color).
Allan, James, and Ludvik Kalus. Islamic Jewellery, edited by Michael Spink. London, England: Spink & Son Ltd., 1986. p. 37.
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