GENERAL DESCRIPTION
A baule or a bauletto means "little bag," and this Etruscan earring type earned its Italian name from its resemblance to a valise. An Etruscan design of the 6th century BCE, the basic form consists of a broad strip of gold bent into three-quarters of a cylinder. The two ends of the strip are joined by a wire or narrow band, which attached the cylinder to the ear. This wire is usually masked from the front by a decorative extension. The surfaces of the cylinder that were visible when the earring was worn are elaborately decorated. The hidden side is usually left plain or is less carefully decorated. These differences make it clear whether an earring was meant to be worn on the right ear or the left.
Adapted from
- Barbara Deppert-Lippitz, Ancient Gold Jewelry at the Dallas Museum of Art (Dallas: Dallas Museum of Art in association with the University of Washington Press, 1996), 35; 124.
- Anne Bromberg, "Pair of a bauletto earrings," in Dallas Museum of Art: A Guide to the Collection, ed. Charles Venable (New Haven, NJ: Yale University Press, 1997), 28.
NOTES
READ
- added publication as a text entry in TMS
- updated provenance and geo x ref
- cut: These earrings are constructed of a sheet gold bent into a three-quarter cylinder, to which an extension has been added. One side remains open; the other is covered by an elaborate rosette, sunk into the center of a wide frame of decorative wires. The rosette is ocmposed of a large coil of gold wire and pointed petals made of sheet gold. The surface of the cylinder is divided into square compartments separated by rope-wire plaits and undulating ribbons fashioned from sheet gold. Each compartment has concave, cup-like elements in the corners and contains a coiled-wire rosette around either a plain or completely granulated boss. The extension of each earring consists of three drop-shaped buds completely covered with "fine dust" granulation (a pulviscolo) two arched strops of sheet gold with the edges bent up to hold a line of granules, and three flowers with sheet-gold petals and granule centers. The earrings have been repaired but are preserved entirely with the exception of the suspension hooks and hinge pins.
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PROVENANCE
Before 1968: Collection of Dr. Elie Borowski, Basel Switzerland [1]
From 1968: Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, gift of Mr. and Mrs. James H. Clark, Sr., purchased from above [2]
[1] Object card found in Collections Records Object File [1968.13.a-b]
[2] The name of the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, founded in 1933, was changed to the Dallas Museum of Art in 1983.
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FUN FACTS
- Jewelry was far more than merely ornament to the Etruscans; it was often close to being a magic charm or amulet and implied the protection of the gods.
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General Description
A baule or a bauletto means "little bag," and this Etruscan earring type earned its Italian name from its resemblance to a valise. An Etruscan design of the 6th century BCE, the basic form consists of a broad strip of gold bent into three-quarters of a cylinder. The two ends of the strip are joined by a wire or narrow band, which attached the cylinder to the ear. This wire is usually masked from the front by a decorative extension. The surfaces of the cylinder that were visible when the earring was worn are elaborately decorated. The hidden side is usually left plain or is less carefully decorated. These differences make it clear whether an earring was meant to be worn on the right ear or the left.
Adapted from
- Barbara Deppert-Lippitz, Ancient Gold Jewelry at the Dallas Museum of Art (Dallas: Dallas Museum of Art in association with the University of Washington Press, 1996), 35; 124.
- Anne Bromberg, "Pair of a bauletto earrings," in Dallas Museum of Art: A Guide to the Collection, ed. Charles Venable (New Haven, NJ: Yale University Press, 1997), 28.
Fun Facts
- Jewelry was far more than merely ornament to the Etruscans; it was often close to being a magic charm or amulet and implied the protection of the gods.
Archival Resources
Web Resources
Notes
READ
- added publication as a text entry in TMS
- updated provenance and geo x ref
- cut: These earrings are constructed of a sheet gold bent into a three-quarter cylinder, to which an extension has been added. One side remains open; the other is covered by an elaborate rosette, sunk into the center of a wide frame of decorative wires. The rosette is ocmposed of a large coil of gold wire and pointed petals made of sheet gold. The surface of the cylinder is divided into square compartments separated by rope-wire plaits and undulating ribbons fashioned from sheet gold. Each compartment has concave, cup-like elements in the corners and contains a coiled-wire rosette around either a plain or completely granulated boss. The extension of each earring consists of three drop-shaped buds completely covered with "fine dust" granulation (a pulviscolo) two arched strops of sheet gold with the edges bent up to hold a line of granules, and three flowers with sheet-gold petals and granule centers. The earrings have been repaired but are preserved entirely with the exception of the suspension hooks and hinge pins.
Catalogue essays
Artist/designers
Cultures
Geography
Process/materials
Historical periods
Individuals
Subject terms
RELATED OBJECTS
PROVENANCE
Before 1968: Collection of Dr. Elie Borowski, Basel Switzerland [1]
From 1968: Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, gift of Mr. and Mrs. James H. Clark, Sr., purchased from above [2]
[1] Object card found in Collections Records Object File [1968.13.a-b]
[2] The name of the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, founded in 1933, was changed to the Dallas Museum of Art in 1983.
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