21st Nov, 2025 13:00
Fine Antiquities & Ancient Art
93
AN EXCEPTIONALLY FINE PAIR OF ISLAMIC GOLD ‘DOVE’ EARRINGS, 12TH CENTURY
Sold for €3,640
including Buyer's Premium
Greater Iranian region or Afghanistan. Each earring finely crafted in high-karat gold, formed with a hook supporting a hollow-bodied bird, its rounded head with pointed beak and round encircled eyes, the wings and body enriched with applied granulation and filigree rosettes. Beneath each bird hangs a tiered, articulated pendant of globular elements, decorated with rows of beaded granules and terminating in small, clustered drops. (2)
Provenance: From the collection of Dr. Klaus Marquardt in Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany. The Collection of Prof. Klaus Müller, acquired in Bonn in 1991. A copy of a document with multiple collection annotations is included with the lot.
Condition: Good condition with minor wear. Tiny warping, a nick to one beak and losses to the small beads.
Weight: 13 g (total)
Dimensions: Height 6.2 cm (each)
The present pair of gold dove earrings stands within a longstanding tradition of avian jewelry that spans the Islamic world into Greater Iran and finds a compelling parallel in a Met Museum pendant and earrings set with confronted birds. The Met resists firm attribution: stylistically, it finds its closest technical parallels in the Greater Iranian world, yet the iconography of confronted birds, the box-construction of the jewel, and the use of strings of pearls resonate strongly with Fatimid Syria and Egypt as well.
Literature comparison:
Compare a closely related pair of earrings and a pendant with similar birds, from the Greater Iranian region, dated to the 11th-12th century, 5.9 cm and 6.1 cm (diameter), in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, object number 2007.340 and 2006.273b.
Greater Iranian region or Afghanistan. Each earring finely crafted in high-karat gold, formed with a hook supporting a hollow-bodied bird, its rounded head with pointed beak and round encircled eyes, the wings and body enriched with applied granulation and filigree rosettes. Beneath each bird hangs a tiered, articulated pendant of globular elements, decorated with rows of beaded granules and terminating in small, clustered drops. (2)
Provenance: From the collection of Dr. Klaus Marquardt in Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany. The Collection of Prof. Klaus Müller, acquired in Bonn in 1991. A copy of a document with multiple collection annotations is included with the lot.
Condition: Good condition with minor wear. Tiny warping, a nick to one beak and losses to the small beads.
Weight: 13 g (total)
Dimensions: Height 6.2 cm (each)
The present pair of gold dove earrings stands within a longstanding tradition of avian jewelry that spans the Islamic world into Greater Iran and finds a compelling parallel in a Met Museum pendant and earrings set with confronted birds. The Met resists firm attribution: stylistically, it finds its closest technical parallels in the Greater Iranian world, yet the iconography of confronted birds, the box-construction of the jewel, and the use of strings of pearls resonate strongly with Fatimid Syria and Egypt as well.
Literature comparison:
Compare a closely related pair of earrings and a pendant with similar birds, from the Greater Iranian region, dated to the 11th-12th century, 5.9 cm and 6.1 cm (diameter), in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, object number 2007.340 and 2006.273b.
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