Skip Navigation

Hoop Earring

Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art

The Sumerian culture in Iraq, established in the third millennium b.c., was one of the world’s earliest civilizations. It reached a height of luxury known to us primarily through the elegantly crafted jewelry found in the tombs of its rulers. The ornaments exhibited here include two finger rings and two pairs of earrings in gold, and beads fashioned in gold and semiprecious stones. The beads have been restrung in modern times. Originally, they belonged to elaborate necklaces, which were often so large that their strands had to be held apart by separators. A separator on the smallest strand here consists of four attached tubes in gold (no. 3). The large round bead in lapis lazuli, with a gold cap, was the head of an ornamental pin in silver; traces of silver remain in the hole (no. 4).
CULTURE Sumerian
MEDIUM Gold
  • Place Made: Iraq
  • DATES ca. 2600–2500 B.C.E.
    PERIOD early Dynastic IIIA Period
    DIMENSIONS Diam. 7/16 in. (1.1 cm)  (show scale)
    ACCESSION NUMBER 1999.109.8
    CREDIT LINE Purchased with funds given by Shelby White
    MUSEUM LOCATION This item is not on view
    CAPTION Sumerian. Hoop Earring, ca. 2600–2500 B.C.E. Gold, Diam. 7/16 in. (1.1 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Purchased with funds given by Shelby White, 1999.109.8. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: , 1999.109.6-.9_PS2.jpg)
    IMAGE group, 1999.109.6-.9_PS2.jpg.
    "CUR" at the beginning of an image file name means that the image was created by a curatorial staff member. These study images may be digital point-and-shoot photographs, when we don\'t yet have high-quality studio photography, or they may be scans of older negatives, slides, or photographic prints, providing historical documentation of the object.
    RIGHTS STATEMENT Creative Commons-BY
    You may download and use Brooklyn Museum images of this three-dimensional work in accordance with a Creative Commons license. Fair use, as understood under the United States Copyright Act, may also apply. Please include caption information from this page and credit the Brooklyn Museum. If you need a high resolution file, please fill out our online application form (charges apply). For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch. For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright. If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.
    RECORD COMPLETENESS
    Not every record you will find here is complete. More information is available for some works than for others, and some entries have been updated more recently. Records are frequently reviewed and revised, and we welcome any additional information you might have.
    Sumerian. <em>Hoop Earring</em>, ca. 2600–2500 B.C.E. Gold, Diam. 7/16 in. (1.1 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Purchased with funds given by Shelby White, 1999.109.8. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: , 1999.109.6-.9_PS2.jpg)

    TAGS

    TAGS