Pair of Earrings or Hair Ringlets with Ram Head
Unknown Artist
400s BCE
Medium
gold
Dimensions
w. 3.5 cm
Classification
Jewelry
Department
Greek and Roman Art
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Norman O. Stone and Ella A. Stone Memorial Fund
Accession Number
1968.102
About this artwork
The main spiral body of this ornament is made from a hollow tube, decorated in the center with a double palmette. Each end of the ornament is capped with a ram’s head above an elaborate collar. There are no join seams on the main tube, meaning it must have been cast as a spiral or otherwise as a tapered tube that was then bent into shape. Scholars believe that these helical pieces were used as earrings (perhaps with a separate attachment) or to hold hair in place.