Pair of gold earrings with Ganymede and the eagle
These superb earrings consist of a large honeysuckle palmette below which hangs a finely worked three-dimensional figure of the Trojan prince Ganymede in the clutches of Zeus, who has assumed the guise of an eagle. Coveted by Zeus for his beauty, Ganymede was carried off to Mount Olympos to be a cup-bearer for the gods. The pendants are sculptural masterpieces in miniature, which no doubt reflect in their basic conception a famous large-scale bronze group of the same subject, made by Leochares in the first half of the fourth century B.C. The airborne theme is ingeniously adapted here to an object that hangs freely in space.
Artwork Details
- Title: Pair of gold earrings with Ganymede and the eagle
- Period: Classical
- Date: ca. 330–300 BCE
- Culture: Greek
- Medium: Gold
- Dimensions: total H. 2 3/8 in. (6 cm); H. of rosette 1 in. (2.5 cm); H. of Ganymede group 1 3/16 in. (3 cm)
- Classification: Gold and Silver
- Credit Line: Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1937
- Object Number: 37.11.9, .10
- Curatorial Department: Greek and Roman Art
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East Greek
ca. 300 BCE
Greek
ca. 200 BCE
Greek
ca. 330–300 BCE
Greek
3rd–2nd century BCE
Greek or Scythian
ca. 340–320 BCE
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