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Rock crystal pendant with lion’s-head gold mount. (Courtesy of the Vedat Nedim Tör Museum, Istanbul) -
Rock crystal pendant with lion’s-head gold mount. Detail of lion's-head mount. (Courtesy of the Vedat Nedim Tör Museum, Istanbul)
Rock crystal pendant with lion’s-head gold mount
The Lydians and their World
(2010)
Cat. 118
- Date
- First half of the fifth century BC, Late Lydian (Persian)
- Museum
- Istanbul, Archaeological Museum, 4577
- Museum Inventory No.
- 4577
- Sardis or Museum Inv. No.
- IAM 4577
- Material
- Gold, Stone
- Object Type
- Jewelry and Ornaments
- Site
- Sardis
- Sector
- Nec
- Trench
- Butler Tomb 326
- Locus
- Butler Tomb 326
- Description
- “Pendant (or possibly an ear-ring) of rock crystal, with a gold cap that terminates in a lion’s head holding a ring for suspension in its mouth. The ring is large and is made of a circle of heavy wire, with a beaded ring on either side. At the base, the gold cap terminates in a row of minute teeth. The crystal pendant is nearly cylindrical, but increases slightly in diameter from the flat top (which engages in the gold cap) to the rounded base. It is perforated near the top and is attached to the gold cap by means of a pin that has a round head on one side and is riveted on the other.” (Curtis). Height 0.065 m, greatest diameter 0.015 m.
- Comments
- From Sardis, excavated by the Butler Expedition in Tomb 326, together with a carnelian stamp seal and four gold pendants. A very similar pendant was found in another tomb (Curtis 1925, no. 50).
- See Also
- Bibliography
- Curtis 1925, no. 49; Meriçboyu 2001, 124-126.
- Author
- NDC