The Gold of Taranto

Different variants of the boat shape are the most common designs for earrings, an essential part of women’s apparel, and among the most documented items of personal adornment in the tombs of Taranto. 

This exceptionally large specimen (height 9 cm, width 5 cm) was found in a tomb on the Via Umbria in Taranto, and dates back to the second half of the fourth century BC.

The complex decoration is achieved using various techniques: filigree, the weaving of thin metal wires twisted together; granulation, the welding of tiny spherical grains onto the sheet to form prearranged designs;

and knurling, a beaded effect achieved by making ridges on a metal surface using pressure from a blade. This boat-shaped earring is decorated with pendants and carved foil elements, such as the winged female figures (Nikai) on the edges.

This pair of gold earrings was uncovered in a burial in Crispiano from the mid-fourth century BC. It bears traces of pink, red and blue enamel, is shaped as disks with a beaded edge adorned with rosettes and four layers of petals.

Two small roses with filigree petals are attached to the sides of the disc, from which hang two thin double-link chains each with three smooth, biconical beads and three filigree spheroidal beads, with bells at the ends.

A female head adorned with a frontal diadem, earrings with rosettes and cluster pendants, and filigree necklaces are attached to the bottom of each disk. The head-shaped pendants are closed by a piece of foil with a small fissure, where small bits of fabric or sponge soaked in perfume could be inserted.

This frontal diadem, from Crispiano and dating to the mid-fourth century BC, is made of gold foil folded into a half cylinder, curved and edged with a knurled thread and flanked by a running wave motif executed using the same technique.

The main surface of the object is decorated with vegetative spirals in knurled thread with volutes and palmettes and ending with bell-shaped flowers.

The small holes at the edges were used for attaching the gold foil to a core made of a perishable material, perhaps wood, using nails.

This rare gold ring diadem dating back to the first half of the third century BC was found in a pit tomb in Ginosa Marina, in the chôra of Taranto near the border with the territory of Metapontum.

The diadem is embellished by a large Heracles knot in the center, which is densely decorated on the frontal part with filigree and vegetation-themed knurling ornamentation.
The motif known as the knot of Heracles, originally from an Egyptian environment, may have arrived at the Taranto ateliers through the mediation of oriental Greek goldsmiths.

This peculiar example of a bronze nutcracker realistically depicts two female hands, embellished with spiral bracelets in gold foil ending in snake protomes at the wrists, with the hands elegantly clasped together.

A hinge placed between the palms allowed the two parts to be leveraged apart.
Originally a handle was attached to the base of the hands with quadrangular pins.

Datable between the end of the fourth and the beginning of the third centuries BC and found in a tomb in C.da Rondinella in Taranto, this unique object associated the practical function of a table tool with symbolic meanings and rituals of the area.

This diadem, found in the Tomb of Gold in Canosa, is a masterpiece of the Hellenistic era of Tarantine goldsmithing. It is a truly unique piece, assembled together from separate elements by expert engineering.

The support consists of two gold sheets folded into a channel and joined by a hinge. A refined floral composition wrapped around it executed in openwork filigree, with bunches of flowers, different types of berries and leaves held together by a continuous ribbon embellished with enamel in different shades of green, as an imitation of a garland.

This cosmetic case in silver foil with hot gilding from the Tomb of Gold in Canosa is designed in the form of two valves imitating the shape of the Pecten jacobaeus shell. They are joined by a hinge bearing a dotted inscription in the local language that reads OPAKAS SABALEIDAS, probably a reference to the owner.

A nereid riding a sea monster with a garnet set in its eye, is depicted inside the lid. 

The outside of the lid reproduces the nereid on Cetus with some variations. There are two symmetrically engraved dolphins on a running wave motif near the hinge.