Earring with bull's head whose eyes were previously inlaid

Ptolemaic Period

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 134

Hoops formed of wound wire with animal head terminals are the commonest type of Hellenistic earring. The bull-head earring appears throughout the Mediterranean, probably a positive image because of the physical and sexual prowess attributed to bulls.

Examples like this one with a gold or stone bead incorporated into the collar behind the animal's head date mostly to the second and first centuries B.C.

Earring with bull's head whose eyes were previously inlaid, Gold

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