The Story of the Object
Material, Meaning and Survival
Crescent earrings belong to the most distinctive forms of Early Byzantine personal ornament. This example uses opus interrasile, a demanding openwork technique that makes the gold appear almost weightless. Two birds flank a central motif within the crescent, balancing natural imagery with strict symmetry. Related ornaments circulated from Constantinople and Bithynia across the wider Byzantine world, where precious jewellery expressed status while also carrying associations of harmony, fertility and protection.