Earrings (1)

The lion-heads are formed in embossed sheet gold halves (left and right) and are carefully detailled. The eyes were probably once enamelled. The collars are decorated with grains and filigree. The hoop is formed of plain wires all hammered into a single wire at the point. The loop in the lion's mouth links to the small round terminal to close the hoop.

Representations of woman wearing similar earrings on terracottas and bronze mirrors suggest that most of these earrings were worn with the head at the front but upside-down.

The style of the lion's face and this type of earring terminating in an animal head are typical of the production in the Greek cities of South Italy and Sicily, Taranto in particular. Lion-head earrings are the earliest type in the long series of animal-head hoop earrings. They seem to have been first developped in Etruria (Italy).