Earring
Unknown Artist
7th century
Medium
Silver
Dimensions
Overall: 2 15/16 x 2 5/8 x 1/4 in. (7.5 x 6.6 x 0.7 cm)
Classification
Metalwork-Silver
Culture
Frankish
Department
Medieval Art
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917
Accession Number
17.193.320
Art Historical Context
This exquisite silver earring, crafted by an unknown Frankish artisan in the 7th, offers a glimpse into the daily elegance of early medieval Europe. Measuring just under 3 inches across, its delicate form—2 15/16 x 2 5/8 x 1/4 inches—highlights the precision of Frankish metalworking. Donated to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1917 by the financier J. Pierpont Morgan it resides in the Medieval Art department classified as fine silver metalwork. The Franks, a Germanic people who established the Merovingian kingdom across what is now France and Germany, flourished in this era following the fal...