10th-11th century AD. A matched pair of gold earrings, each a round-section wire loop with hollow sphere and granule collar, hollow disc to the lower end of the loop with granules, three graduated hollow bulbs below with granule detailing. 8.81 grams total, 57mm (2 1/4"). From a European collection; formerly in an old Oriental collection; acquired 1960. Cf. Bollok, A. Byzantine Jewellery of the Hungarian Conquest Period: A View from the Balkans, plate 2 and 3; Albani, J. Elegance Over the Borders: The Evidence of Middle Byzantine Earrings, plate 12-15, in Entwistle, C. & Adams, N. Intelligible Beauty, Recent Research into Byzantine Jewellery, London, 2010. [2]

Very fine condition, slight denting.