Nineteen Egyptian ear ornaments
New Kingdom, 18th-20th Dynasty, circa 1550-1069 B.C.
Comprising two ribbed gold hoop earrings, one formed of circular section tubes, the other of triangular section tubes, 2.6cm max diam, 4.1g and 5.9g; four jasper penannular earrings, two with notched outer circumference, two with holes pierced through the rim, 1.5cm - 1.8cm diam; five glass ear plugs in the form of papyrus columns, each pierced vertically, one of turquoise glass with white trail, 2.1cm long, red ink inscribed on the top of the disc 61.33.89, another of dark blue glass with white and turquoise trailing, 2.6cm long, another of dark blue with white and yellow trailing, 2.2cm long, and two of dark blue with yellow trailing, one with white around the disc top, 2.8cm and 2.5cm long, the latter with red ink inscribed numbers 61.33.91; two gold leech-shaped earrings, 1.3cm max diam, 1.1g; two penannular gold earrings, 1.7cm diam, 2.3g and 2.6g; two faience ear studs with domed top, one glazed yellow, with red and blue floral motief glazed top, the other red, with incised floral motif on the top, 2.5cm max length; a small carnelian ear stud with domed top, 1.6cm long and a travertine ear stud, 2.3cm long (19)
Footnotes:
Provenance:
Two ribbed gold earrings: anonymous sale; Christie's, New York, 6 December 2000, lot 44.
Two red jasper earrings: anonymous sale; François de Ricqlès, Paris, 1 October 1999, lot 91 (part lot).
Two red jasper earrings, light blue and yellow ear stud, carnelian stud: private collection, Germany, acquired between 1955–1965.
Anonymous sale, Sotheby's, New York, 9 December 2003, lot 59 (part).
Two glass studs (turquoise and white; blue, white and yellow): sold on behalf of Lady Pilkington for the benefit of North Lands Creative Glass School.
Anonymous sale, Phillips, London, 27 November 1998, lot 16 (part lot).
Two glass studs (turquoise and white; black and yellow): formerly in the Santa Barbara Museum, gift of Miss Helen Norton 1961, marked 61.33.89 and 61.33.91.
Anonymous sale; Sotheby's, New York, 5 June 1999, lot 403 (part lot).
Boat-shaped earrings: private collection, M.G. Heinz, formed between the 1960s–1970s.
Acquired from the above, January 2001.
Penannular earrings: Dr Jacob Hirsch Collection (1874–1955).
Anonymous sale, Bonhams, London, 26 November 1997, lot 193.
Travertine stud: Dr Jacques Schotte Collection (1928–2007), Belgium.
With Anubis Ancient Art, Rotterdam.
Acquired from the above, 3 December 1999.
Two faience studs: anonymous sale; Bonhams, London, 26 November 1997, lot 61 and lot 62.

Published:
C.A.R. Andrews and J. van Dijk (eds), Objects for Eternity: Egyptian Antiquities from the W. Arnold Meijer Collection, Mainz, 2006, pp.90–91, no.2.12.
All glass ear studs: H-P. Meyer, Microanalysis, Egyptian New Kingdom Glass, Objects from the W. Arnold Meijer Collection, Universität Heidelberg, Institut für Geowissenschaften, 2020, pp.16–32.

Exhibited:
Allard Pierson Museum, Archaeological Museum of the University of Amsterdam,
Objecten voor de Eeuwigheid, November 2006 – March 2007.
Blue and white ear stud; blue, white and yellow ear stud: Reiss Engelhorn Museen Mannheim, Zart und Rau-Glaskollektionen, November 2015 – May 2016.

The glass examples were originally believed to have been ear-plugs, the exact function is unknown, but they were highly decorative and made in a variety and combination of colours including dark blue, turquoise, opaque yellow, opaque white. A wide range of examples are preserved in the British Museum, London (John D. Cooney, Catalogue of the Egyptian Antiquities in the British Museum, London 1976, pp.92-3, nos.971-998) and further examples may be found included in a necklace with amulets in The Corning Museum of Glass (Sidney M. Goldstein; Pre-Roman and Early Roman Glass in The Corning Museum of Glass, Corning 1979, pp.78-80, nos.124, 128, pls.6 & 9).
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