Ancient Near East, Holy Land, early Byzantine Empire, ca. 6th to 7th century CE. This is a gorgeous high quality 80.65% gold (equivalent to 19K+) openwork earring featuring a crescent shape with an intricate bird pattern. The earring was created from a flattened gold sheet, cut to leave the positive silhouettes of two peacocks flanking a central flower or palm tree within a circle, and finely etched details highlight the head and feathers of the birds and foliage. The tips of the crescent have granulated spheres that decorate the base of a thick wire and loop clasp; the arched wire is the original hook that would pass through the wearer's earlobe. Peacocks were a popular theme in jewelry, symbolizing beauty, immortality, and to ward off the evil eye! Size: 1.4" L x 1.12" W (3.6 cm x 2.8 cm); gold quality: 80.65% (equivalent to 19K+); weight: 4.1 grams

For a strikingly similar example of Byzantine gold earrings with peacocks, please see The Metropolitan Museum of Art, accession number BZ.1952.13.1-2 (Byzantine Collection, Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, D.C.).

Provenance: East Coast collection, New York Gallery, New York City, New York, USA, acquired before 2010

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#142743

Professionally cleaned with some dark green patina and toning on the verso and along peripheries of crescent and loop clasp. Intact and very good, but not wearable as an earring due to the wire's rigid, inelastic nature. The earring could be converted to a pendant.