Inspired by a pair of fifth to fourth century B.C. earrings, the design of our Cypriot Amethyst Earrings reflects the boat-shaped construction of the original. The original earrings are embellished with granulation, an ancient form of ornamentation in which tiny grains of gold are fused to an underlying surface metal. Such a combination of a gold setting and a semiprecious stone, while familiar in rings, is not characteristic of mainland Greek jewellery of the Classical period, but rather jewellery from the East, where coloured stones and glass were used with gold beginning as early as the Archaic period (ca. 700-480 B.C.).
14K gold with 24K gold overlay. 1 1/8''L. Pierced, with 14K gold wires.
14K gold with 24K gold overlay. 1 1/8''L. Pierced, with 14K gold wires.
- 14K gold with 24K gold overlay
- Hand-carved amethysts
- Top of wire to bottom of frame: 1 1/8''L, Amethyst: 7/16''L
- Pierced
- 14K gold wires
For more than 2,000 years Cyprus has been a way station for ships circulating around the eastern Mediterranean. The exposure of Cypriot craftsmen to foreign artistic styles from both East and West is reflected in the distinctive hybrid forms of Jewellery that, by the Classical period (475-325 B.C.), represent an amalgam of Greek, Near Eastern, and indigenous styles.
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