Lot 303
A pair of Fatimid filigree gold Earrings Egypt, 11th Century (2)
29 April 2004, 10:30 BST
London, New Bond Street£6,000 - £8,000
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Find your local specialistA pair of Fatimid filigree gold Earrings
Egypt, 11th Century
Egypt, 11th Century
constructed of gold sheet with applied wirework and granulation, crescentic with flattened sides, one side with a smaller crescentic panel with a band of applied filigee spheres and granulation, the edge with five suspension loops, verso with an applied wire work design of affronted birds holding a spray in their beaks, the sides with a palmette vine within a chain border, on twisted wire loops
each 4.2 cm. high(2)
each 4.2 cm. high(2)
Footnotes
Comparison can be drawn with an earring in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (Marilyn Jenkins and Manuel Keene, Islamic Jewelry in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1982, no. 50a, p. 84).
The motif of one or two birds holding a spray was a popular motif in the Fatimid period and can be seen on a number of items of Fatimid jewellery, including a pendant in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (Jenkins and Keene, 1982, no. 47, p. 80).