Earring
Unknown Artist
3rd century
Medium
Gold, garnet or glass paste cabochon
Dimensions
Overall: 1/2 x 7/16 x 1/8 in. (1.3 x 1.1 x 0.3 cm)
Classification
Metalwork-Gold
Culture
Pontic
Department
Medieval Art
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917
Accession Number
17.192.104
Art Historical Context
This delicate gold earring, crafted by an unknown artist in the 3rd, hails from Pontic culture in the region around the Black Sea. just 1/2 x 7/16 x 1/8 inches (1.3 x 1.1 x 0.3 cm), it a gleaming gold body adorned with a cabon—a smooth, rounded gem—of garnet or glass paste. Such intimate jewelry pieces were prized personal ornaments, likely worn by elites in a world of shifting empires and nomadic influences. Dating to the late Roman era, this earring reflects the sophisticated metalworking traditions of Pontic peoples, possibly steppe nomads like the Sarmatians, known for their lavish goldsm...