Pair of Earrings with Goose Pendants

CultureGreek
Titles
  • Pair of Earrings with Goose Pendants
Date330–31 BC
PlaceGreece
MediumGold, green glass
DimensionsEach, with hanging hook: 2 × 3/4 × 3/8 in. (5.1 × 1.9 × 1 cm)
Each, without hanging hook: 1 3/4 × 3/4 × 3/8 in. (4.4 × 1.9 × 1 cm)
Credit LineGift of Miss Annette Finnigan
Object number37.43.1,.2
Non exposé

Explore Further

Department
Antiquities
Description

Geese were frequently kept as household pets in ancient times. They also functioned as guards, squawking to warn of a strangerís approach. Here, geese are incorporated into a pair of pierced earrings, which were a popular form of adornment. Throughout the ancient world, wealthy women wore jewelry to enhance their appearance and indicate rank. Men lavished gifts of earrings, bracelets, and necklaces on their wives and mistresses as tokens of affection. Brides had dowries that often contained sizeable [begin ital] parures, [end ital] or jewelry wardrobes.


 In these earrings, each six-petaled cup rosette, attached to a long hook, has wire stamens tipped with gold granules. From the rosette, below a green glass spacer bead, hangs a pendant in the form of a goose on a small cylindrical base. Tail and wing feathers are outlined in filigree wire; circles of the same wire indicate the eyes. Each goose has a rosette on its breast, hanging from a necklace.


 


ProvenancePrivate collection; purchased by Miss Annette Finnigan (1873–1940), Houston, by 1937; given to MFAH, 1937.
Exhibition History"Ten Centuries that Shaped the West," The Rice Institute for the Arts, Houston, October 15, 1970–January 3, 1971; Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, February 3–April 1, 1971; Witte Memorial Museum, San Antonio, May 16–July 11, 1971.

"The Search for Alexander, An Exhibition" traveling to: National Gallery of Art, 11/16/1980 - 4/5/1981; Art Institute of Chicago, 5/14 - 9/7/1981; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 10/23/1981 - 1/10/1982; Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, 2/19 - 5/16/1982; New Orleans Museum, 6/24 - 9/19/1982; Metropolitan Museum of Art, 10/30/1982 - 2/10/1983; Royal Ontario Art Museum, 3/5 - 7/10/1983 (LN:80.8)

"Alexander the Great, King of the Macedonians," Onassis Cultural Center, New York, N.Y., 9 December 2004 - 28 May 2005. (OL.210)

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

If you have questions about this work of art or the MFAH Online Collection please contact us.

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