Earrings

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This pair of earrings is made of gold. Each earring is crescent-shaped, with granulation on the inner and outer edges. Each crescent is decorated with a row of raised bosses, and is surrounded on the outer edge by gold spheres. The opening of the crescent is bridged by a gold wire, by which the earring would have been attached to the wearer’s ear. These earrings are typical of Achaemenid Persian jewelry. Earrings of similar shape have been excavated at Susa and Pasargadae, and they are depicted at Susa and Persepolis, where they are shown being worn by men.

Ancient Near Eastern Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Met's Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art cares for approximately 7,000 works ranging in date from the eighth millennium B.C. through the centuries just beyond the emergence of Islam in the seventh century A.D. Objects in the collection were created by people in the area that today comprises Iraq, Iran, Turkey, Syria, the Eastern Mediterranean coast, Yemen, and Central Asia. From the art of some of the world's first cities to that of great empires, the department's holdings illustrate the beauty and craftsmanship as well as the profound interconnections, cultural and religious diversity, and lasting legacies that characterize the ancient art of this vast region.

Metropolitan Museum of Art