Pair of gold earrings with Ganymede and the eagle

Unknown

ca. 330–300 BCE · Gold · Greek and Roman Art

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.

Artist

Unknown

Date

ca. 330–300 BCE

Medium

Gold

Culture

Greek

Department

Greek and Roman Art

Credit line

Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1937