Pair of Earrings

A pair of turquoise coloured glazed faience amulets of the Egyptian gods Khnumn and Amun. Perforated plinths at the back for suspension, through which gold wire is passed and fastened to rings of worked gold. The bases of the figures are set in gold with fine wire and granulated ornamentation. On the back of one figure is an inscription in Greek letters. Presented by Lucien Bonaparte, Prince Français, 1st Prince of Canino and Musignano (1775-1840) to Hortense Eugénie Cécile Bonaparte, Queen Consort of Holland. Pope Pius VII gave land to Napoleon Bonaparte’s exiled brother in Montalto di Castro, Province of Viterbo, Lazio, Italy. This included the necropolis of the ancient Etruscan city of Vulci to. From 1828 antiquities were unearthed from tombs from about the 7th – 6th century BC and are now within museum collections around the world. The provenance of this artefact is recorded on page 107 in the Bram Hertz collection catalogue of 1857: "1046 Pair of Ear-rings in shape of the God Chnum (Jupiter Chnebis), set as ear-drops, with stands and rings, and necklace of blue bugles, glass beads ; a plate, on which is Horus, between Isia and Nephthys ; an ape, a frog, a clasp, or counterpoise of a collar ; two lions and a ram-headed hawk ; set with gold frames, and clasp of Etruscan workmanship. These were formerly presented by the Prince of Canino to the Queen Hortense, having been found at Vulci".