The amphora was an elegant container design that dates back to the Neolithic period. The pointed shape and size allowed them to fit tightly (and therefore safely) against each other in storage rooms and packages, tied together with rope and delivered by land or sea. They were a part of everyday life in the ancient world. By the 19th century, they weren't used anymore except as an artistic motif, a kind of Neoclassical emoji. These earrings, carved from tortoiseshell, hang from discs modeled after the Etruscan gold jewelry that had just been discovered by Western archaeologists in the 1800s. We call this kind of jewelry "Archaeological Revival".
MATERIALS: 15k gold (marked), tortoiseshell
AGE: c. 1880
CONDITION: Very good
SIZE: 2 1/8" length measured from the top of the ear wire