Earrings

These earrings were discovered, along with other jewellery, inside a small earthenware jar. They undoubtedly belonged to a Muslim family. This treasure could be accurately dated thanks to the coins among its contents. It was given to the Museo de Majorca by the Societat Arqueològica Luliana. The earrings are for the most part in good condition.

They date from the Almoravid or Almohad period and have the characteristic shape of crescents—present throughout Antiquity[1]Roman Empire[2] and especially in vogue during the . There is a semi-circular hooked clasp for hanging the earrings. Twisted wire outlines their general shape which is set against a backdrop of decorative granulation. The main body of the earring, decorated with five triangular points on its lower edge, forms a crescent terminating in fleuron that hide its hook and clasp. Above and below the crescent are two bands of twisted wire containing small zigzag. These two thin granulated edges encircle the central piece that carries the inscription. In the middle section of the earring, two birds stand back to back, their wings joined, forming the support for a third bird, this time in frontal view in a heraldic pose, its wings outspread and fanned tail. This bird also clearly evokes the vegetal world.

While there is no discernable trace of this, by comparing the two earrings to contemporary Egyptian designs we can presume that certain details were enhanced with enamelled colours, most probably the inscription and the heraldic eagle’s head, wings and tail feathers.

The Louvre in Paris has a pair of earrings from the Fatimid Dynasty (11th-12th centuries) with a design of two birds confronting each other[3]. There are also other pieces with a more formal typology, technique and decorative style that show similarities to the Majorca earrings: those in the David Collection of Copenhagen[4], at the Metropolitan Museum of Art[5] (pieces attributed to the 11th century from Syria and Egypt), and at the National Museum of Kuwait (pieces enhanced with enamel and decorated with epigraphic cursive letters, attributed to the 12th century and al-Andalus[6]). These pieces demonstrate that similar objects were being produced throughout the Islamic world. An enamelled earring in the Walters Art Gallery of Baltimore in the shape of a crescent is presumed to have come from Madinat al-Zahra, the palatial city of the Umayyad Caliphate of al-Andalus. This type of earring was probably first imported and produced in al-Andalus at the advent of the Caliphate. We can also cite such earrings as those discovered among the treasure of Ermita Nueva d’Alcalá la Real in Jaén shaped in semi-circles, ornamented with points at their extremities. The contents of the treasure may be considered to date from the 10th century, judging from the coins that were among it.