Pair of Crescent-Shaped Earrings

Pair of Crescent-Shaped Earrings

Early Byzantine
late 6th-7th century
3.2 cm x 2.5 cm (1 1/4 in. x 1 in.)
gold
BZ.1952.13.1-2

Crescent-shaped earrings were the most popular style of Byzantine gold earrings in the sixth and seventh centuries. The jewelry was formed from sheet gold using the openwork technique, by cutting away the background and leaving the image as a positive in silhouette. The surface could then be engraved with details, as the surface is here, creating a more reflective and sparkling effect. Peacocks are shown in profile, facing each other on either side of an amphora. Peacocks were one of the favored images among the openwork earrings, others including generic birds combined with a fountain or a cross in the center. This style of earring was frequently edged as this one is, with beading and often with additional punch work and globules.

Peacocks had been used as decorative motifs for many centuries in pagan Roman and Christian art. They were attractive not only because of the associations with their luxuriant and colorful plumage but also because it was believed that the flesh of these exotic birds did not decay after death. The peacock was therefore a symbol among pagans, gradually adopted by Christians, of immortality and of life after death in paradise.
S. Zwirn