Czére Andrea szerk.: A Szépművészeti Múzeum közleményei 105. (Budapest, 2006)

MARIANNA DÁGI: Training the Eye: Technical Details as Clues in the Attribution of Ancient Jewellery

Hoop: made from four embossed strips of sheet gold twisted around a base-tube. Modern soldering, silver in colour, can be seen on the hoop just before the connecting element. The solder is filed to follow the shape of the strips of sheet gold twisted around the base-tube. The preserved part of the ancient hoop is fastened to a hoop bent from modern drawn tube. The raw material is greenish yellow gold which contrasts sharply with that of the ancient earring. The end of the modern hoop, which is caught in the bull's mouth and in the earlobe, is bent into a U, a technique familiar from modern earrings, and the tip filed to a point. Connecting élément: complex connecting element composed of three parts, namely a truncated cone, a ball-shaped and a cylinder. The part of the truncated cone nearer the hoop is decorated with a row of long arches made from strip-twisted (?) wires, and the part of it nearest the ball is embellished with eggpattern. Inside the long arches the base-sheet was embossed from the underside. Inside each arch of the egg-pattern a dot was punched originally from the underside of the base-sheet: of which only a few are visible now. Three wires were soldered between the long arches and the egg-pattern: one strip-twisted (?) between two plain wires. The ball-shaped part is made from a piece of sheet which is bent into the shape of a barrel with us of narrowing cuts (figs. 8/e-f; for detailed notes on how it was made, see Appendix I). The join of the sheet-edges is well visible inside the earring. At the ball, the edge of the cylinder part is decorated with egg-pattern made from plain (?) filigree wires. Its open end is bordered by three filigree wires soldered next to each other (fig. 8/a-c). Almost half of the cylinder part is hidden under a modern strap of gold (2.5x9 mm) soldered on the right side of the earring. The modern solder, silver in colour, can be seen next to the strap of gold (fig. 8/a.). Head: embossed with matrix (?) from a circular sector or pie-shaped piece of sheet. The join of the edges of the sheet are clearly visible on the brow and top of the head between the horns (figs. 8/c-d.). The nape was made from a separate piece of sheet. The outside part of the horns was formed from the head-sheet, but the inside part of them from the nape-sheet. There is no trace of ears. The eyes are indicated by holes pierced from outside. A ring made from a strip of sheet gold was soldered to the bottom of the horns and also instead of the nostrils. Their shape is different (fig. 8/d.). An arched strip of sheet gold on the top of the head at the join of the head and the nape-sheets indicates that originally a similar ring could have been there (see fig. 8/c). There are tiny pieces of strip sheet-gold under the mouth-hole, which are the remains of the catch-ring. The mouth is now a hole pierced from outside, which was certainly made to fix the end of the modern hoop (fig. 8/g.). Chasing is used to form the wrinkles preserved around the left eye and the nose. The rosette on the brow is indicated also by chased lines with a punched dot in the middle. The nape is decorated by punching. The silver coloured solder is well visible on the left side of the head at the join of the head and the connecting element.