Pair of Earrings

Seven crumpled hemispheres are placed in front of a second zone of nine hemispheres, which in turn are mounted on a flattened ring, all made of gold. Granules appear between the hemispheres. In back, the opening of the ring is crossed vertically and horizontally by two struts of twisted wire. Above, partially concealing the ear wire, is a bead-edged box setting filled with a glass inlay. According to the 1905 sales catalogue of the Guilhou collection, these earrings were excavated by Gennaro Matrone at the site later known as Fondo Bottaro. A statuette in the Walters collection, 54.988, is said in the same sale to have been found in the same excavation as the earrings.

Provenance

Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object.

E. Guilhou Collection [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Sale, Collection de M. Guilhou: Objects Antiques, Hotel Drouot, 16-18 March 1905, lot 165, illust. [said to be from Boscoreale, Matrone excavations at Fondo Bottaro]; Collection of Fred Werther [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Mrs. Fred Werther, by inheritance; Walters Art Museum, April 1962, by purchase.