Dress studs with Assyrian human-headed winged bulls
Following the excavation of Assyrian palaces in the mid-nineteenth century, ancient Mesopotamian imagery began to be used in European decorative arts, including jewelry and ceramics. Publicity in the form of news coverage and popular books around the excavations, removal of many sculptures from sites in northern Iraq to England and France, and public spectacles such as the reconstructed ‘Nineveh Court’ in the Crystal Palace at Sydenham, London, fostered a fascination with Assyria and Assyrian art among the Victorian public.
These dress studs form part of a set with one other stud (2023.701), a pair of cufflinks (2023.700a, b), and a stick pin (2023.703). All are decorated with human-headed winged bulls, based on the colossal guardian sculptures found flanking important gateways in the palaces that became the modern icons of the Assyrian excavations and were the motif most commonly used in Assyrian revival jewelry and decorative arts Although the winged bull designs on all match closely, the pieces do bear different marks. One stud and both cufflinks bear the maker’s mark "J & A", these two studs the maker’s mark "D & M".
These dress studs form part of a set with one other stud (2023.701), a pair of cufflinks (2023.700a, b), and a stick pin (2023.703). All are decorated with human-headed winged bulls, based on the colossal guardian sculptures found flanking important gateways in the palaces that became the modern icons of the Assyrian excavations and were the motif most commonly used in Assyrian revival jewelry and decorative arts Although the winged bull designs on all match closely, the pieces do bear different marks. One stud and both cufflinks bear the maker’s mark "J & A", these two studs the maker’s mark "D & M".
Artwork Details
- Title: Dress studs with Assyrian human-headed winged bulls
- Period: Victorian
- Date: ca. 1880
- Culture: British
- Medium: Gold
- Dimensions: Each Diam. 7/16 × D. 3/16 in. (1.1 × 0.5 cm)
- Credit Line: Henrietta and Christopher McCall Collection, Purchase, Bequest of Henrie Jo Barth, and Museum Acquisitions and Josephine Lois Berger-Nadler Endowment Funds, 2023
- Object Number: 2023.702a,b
- Curatorial Department: Ancient West Asian Art
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ca. 4th century BCE
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ca. 5th century BCE
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ca. 5th century BCE
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ca. 5th century BCE
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