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Source Description
The elaborate earring depicts a Sphinx with a female head, pronounced breasts, and a bird's body with raised wings seated on a trapezoidal base. She is heavily adorned, with a necklace, straps crossing between the breasts, and multiple garnets. The large, central stone of her headdress is missing, but above she is wearing the crown of the Egyptian goddess Hathor, consisting of a sun-disc inscribed in cow horns with two plumes above. Outside of the myths, the apotropaic character of the Sphinx as well as of other monsters such as griffins, sirens, and the Medusa could transform them into guardians and protectors, and make them in this case even into an appropriate motif for jewelry.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
9977
label
Sphinx
core
obj
dtoType
object
citationUrl
pageCount
2
Source metadata
id
9977
sourceUrl
contentType
object
stage
normalized
title
Sphinx
description
The elaborate earring depicts a Sphinx with a female head, pronounced breasts, and a bird's body with raised wings seated on a trapezoidal base. She is heavily adorned, with a necklace, straps crossing between the breasts, and multiple garnets. The large, central stone of her headdress is missing, but above she is wearing the crown of the Egyptian goddess Hathor, consisting of a sun-disc inscribed in cow horns with two plumes above. Outside of the myths, the apotropaic character of the Sphinx as well as of other monsters such as griffins, sirens, and the Medusa could transform them into guardians and protectors, and make them in this case even into an appropriate motif for jewelry.
provenance
Henry Walters, Baltimore [date of acquisition unknown], by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.
date
1st century BC (Hellenistic)
citationUrl
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
genreSpecific
Gold, Silver & Jewelry
pendants
earrings
imageCount
2
pageCount
2
source
import
dimensions
units
cm
width
4.9
height
1.7
depth
1.6
dimensionsRaw
H: 1 15/16 x W: 11/16 x D: 5/8 in. (4.9 x 1.7 x 1.6 cm)
Source extras
cul
Greek
med
gold, garnet
creator_ids
6256
collection_ids
GRC
JWL
exhibition_ids
2054
2089
2513
2704
2237
Page inventory
seq
1
type
photo
mediaId
08548e21da5a5133
hasOcr
no
hasDescription
no
seq
2
type
photo
mediaId
ed7cb5dc921aca93
hasOcr
no
hasDescription
no