One of a Pair of Gold Earrings

Unknown

550–650 · Gold · Medieval Art

In the 500s and early 600s, when the Avars were regularly receiving enormous payments from the Byzantine Empire, virtually all free men and women wore distinctive large earrings fashioned from the pure gold of melted Byzantine coins.

Artist

Unknown

Date

550–650

Medium

Gold

Culture

Avar

Department

Medieval Art

Credit line

Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917