Pendant

A pendant has the form of a miniature woman’s head. It consists of a woman's head and a headdress stephane made separately by lost-wax casting. The head is hollow, on the back it is covered with a flat plate. The loops are soldered to it and to the stephane to be attached to the necklace. The product is made at high technical and artistic level. All details are carefully executed, the features of the woman's face are rendered in classical manner. Small holes are visible in the ears, perhaps made for earrings. Around the neck there is a necklace of small beads (balls of filigree), a miniature bull's head pendant is in the center of it. The exquisite pattern of the headdress is impressive. A thin gold wire is laid out in a floral ornament – palmettes, lotus flowers, S-shaped curls, emphasized by a strip of "pearls" and ov (eggs-shaped ornament with cut tops).
Researchers believe that the prototype of the image was a statue of the goddess Hera by the famous Greek sculptor Polykletos. He created it from gold and ivory for the temple in Argos. The cult of Hera as Zeus` sister and wife in Greek mythology was widespread in many areas of Hellas. She was considered the queen of the gods, the goddess of marriage and conjugal love, the patroness of women. The goddess depicted with symbols of fertility (a floral ornament on a headdress, bull's head) was probably respected as the embodiment of the natural life-giving forces.