Publication Date
XI century
Publication Place
-
Museum of Islamic Art
Subject
Gold with a perforated grain cover. The weight of each earring is approximately 18 grams.
Type
Other
Language
Undetermined
Digital
Yes
Manuscript
No
Physical Dimensions
الارتفاع: 3.3 سم؛ العرض: 3.5 سم
Library
Museum With No Frontiers
Library Asset ID
I. 2334
Record ID
object;ISL;de;Mus01;43;ar
Library Location
Museum of Islamic Art
Date
XI century
Notes
The earrings have a crescent shape, open to the top, and have a double wall, and the workmanship is not the same on both sides of the earring. While on one side we see a small, crescent-shaped area with symmetrical spiral branches and surrounded by a row of pearls, on the other side we see a small semicircular area filled with symmetrical branches along with a wide frame containing six half-spheres whose surfaces are completely covered with grains. There are holes indicating that the earrings carried strings of pearls on both sides. But these pearls no longer exist. These two pieces, with their “box” design, as it is called in the references, clearly indicate Fatimid art of the eleventh century. It seems that these earrings belong to a high social environment in Cairo. Similar earrings were found among the excavations carried out in Tunisia, Egypt, Syria and Iraq. Coin finds help date these earrings, as many of the jewelry extracted from excavations were commercial goods valued at the amount of gold they contained, and the high technology and skill that characterized goldsmiths in the Fatimid era did not receive much attention.
Sample Text
Annette Hagedorn “Pair of Earrings” in Discover Islamic Art. Museum Without Borders, 2026. https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;ISL;de;Mus01;43;ar
