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Head of a pin with lions, bees, an ionic capital, and foliage
Greek
Classical Period
Late fifth century B.C.
Place of Manufacture: Greece, Peloponnesus
Medium/Technique
Gold
Dimensions
Height x width x depth: 7.7 x 4.9 x 5.1 cm (3 1/16 x 1 15/16 x 2 in.)
Credit Line
Catharine Page Perkins Fund
Accession Number96.717
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsJewelry, Ancient Greece and Rome
ClassificationsJewelry / Adornment
DescriptionThe head of a straight pin. At the bottom are two globes, one above the other; above these globes, a four-sided Ionic capital; from the four volutes of the capital, rise lions, whose forepaws rest on the cone-shaped object at the center of the design, consisting of clusters of acanthus leaves. Between the forelegs of the lions rise spirals and between these are bees. The top of the pin head is a small rosette or flower. The pin has a fine mesh chain ending in snake's heads, probably to connect it to a similar pin worn at the same time.
Said to have been found with the gold sphinx pin 96.718, and the Athenian red-figure acorn lekythos 95.1402.
Said to have been found with the gold sphinx pin 96.718, and the Athenian red-figure acorn lekythos 95.1402.
ProvenanceBy date unknown: with Edward Perry Warren (according to Warren's records: Said to have been found at Aigion, but also said to have been found between Patras and Pyrgos.) [this provenance applies to 96.717-96.718 and 95.1402-95.1403, all having been found together]; October 1896: purchased by MFA from Edward Perry Warren