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1 of 253523 objects
Jewellery fragments c.660-620 BC
Gold and electrum (a natural alloy of gold and silver) | 12.0 x 19.0 x 1.0 cm (whole object) | RCIN 84189
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Mounted fragments of jewellery in gold and electrum (a natural alloy of gold and silver) including two diadems, repoussé rosettes, pendant elements, buttons and four plaques with motifs of near-eastern inspiration.
Some of the elements are probably meant to be joint together, such as the rosettes onto the two diadems (the two large strips at the top and bottom ends of the mount), as the distance between the perforations on the various elements are perfectly matching. The four plaques, two embossed with a griffin facing right, and two with a winged female figure, are interpreted as decorative elements for clothing, probably to be worn strung across the top of a garment, possibly a tunic-like one, fastened at the shoulders. The globular, pomegranate-shaped elements are likely to have been attached along the bottom of the plaques as pendants, while the small, round, domed objects are sometimes interpreted as buttons or possibly as a decorative elements for clothing.
The motifs present on the four plaques, the griffin and the winged female figure, are clearly of near-eastern origin or inspiration. The winged figure is usually interpreted as a goddess, often called the 'Mistress of the Animals', as she is depicted flanked on either side by wild animals which, one at each hand, she seems to be taming or subduing.
Her origins are probably to be traced to a prehistoric deity of the ancient Near East, sometimes called the 'Great Mother-Goddess', who took different historical manifestations such as Cybele, the Anatolian goddess of nature and fertility, or Astarte (or Athtart) in West Semitic religion, Ashtoreth in Phoenicia, or Ishtar in the Mesopotamian religion for Babylonians and Assyrians.
The motif became particularly popular during the Orientalising period of the seventh century BC, and later, in the classical Greek world, the 'Mistress of Animals' was eventually to be identified as the goddess Artemis (and her Roman equivalent, Diana).Provenance
Acquired on Rhodes by King Edward VII when Prince of Wales during his 1862 tour of the Middle East
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Creator(s)
(nationality)Acquirer(s)
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Medium and techniques
Gold and electrum (a natural alloy of gold and silver)
Measurements
12.0 x 19.0 x 1.0 cm (whole object)
Category
Object type(s)