Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 06.djvu/674

* EARNEST. 586 EARRING. on the other, with which it is often confused; and, iu the case of earnest proper, no aUowance is made for the value of the coin or token given upon the settlement of the transaction. Xot- withstanding its quaint and antiquated charac- ter, the giving of earnest is still recognized in the law of England and the United States as the equivalent of the consideration essential to the validity of a contract. The Statute of Frauds (J!) Car. 11., c. 3), as now existing in England and reenactcd in the several I'nitcd States, not only recognizes the legal validity of the act of giving earnest, but makes the distinction between it luiil the act of making part payment. EARRING. An ornament suspended from the ear, which is bored for the purpose. The practice is of the highest antiquity, though in the present day it is chiefly confined to the lower classes in Europe and to the East. In the ancient world there was a marked dillVrence between the .siatic races, among whom earrings were worn by both se.xcs, and the Greeks and Komans. whose women alone used them. Earrings liave always formed an important branch of artistic jewelry. Egypt and Assyhi.. Among the Kgjptians the earliest rings were extremely simple, either single hoops of gold, from Hi to 3 inches in diameter, or .several hoops — as many as si.v — soldered to- gether. Royal earrings were sometimes in the shape of an asp, set with precious stones. Later forms, cojiied from Asiatic and Hellenic mod- els, show the ring ending in the form of a dragon or antelope's head : others are pendants in the form of a vase, with incrusted work or with heads of divinities in relief. But the earliest homes of the really artistic earring were Babylo- nia, and later As,syria, where it was a sign of rank amcmg the men. Kings, nobles, and soldiers, as well as gods and genii wore earrings : the Assy- rian bas-reliefs show the variety of their design. Their general form is of a jienilant. sometimes a. long drop or cone attached to a heavy ring or cres- cent, and often, especially under the later kings. in the form of a cross; or groui)s of lialls, lion- headed or bull-headed genii, the symbols of As- shur and other gods. The materials were gold and silver: pearls were sometimes added, ilolds for earrings have been found among the Assyrian palaces at Koyunjik and Ximriid. While the size and decoration were always kept within bounds by the .ssyiiaii jewelers, greater gorgeousness was aimed a( by tlu' Persians, as well as by the artists of I'luenicia. Syria, and the pre-Hellenic peoples of the .Egean. The statties from Cyprus, the tombs of Syria and of Sidon. show Assyrian influence enriched. Greek and Etriscax. The Mycemean and Homeric women used rich earrings. At Mycenic and Hissarlik (Troy), the discoveries of Dr. Schliemann included many early gold earrings of dilferenl sbapcs-^the bell-and-chain pendant, the fringe pendant, the gondola, the elaw-sbaped, the circular plaque, and several more. In the Hind (xiv. 182-83), Hera wears earrings ending in three drops. The true gorgeousness of this period may he inferred from the examples found at Camiros in Rhodes; they are long pendants, with rectan- gular plaques, diversified by zones of mule fig- urines and heads joined by little chains banging from rosettes of liligree-work. Henceforth ear- rings fall into two main classes: (1) those worn against or close to the lobe of the ear. and some times entirely concealing it : (2) those that hang below the ear and aim to continue its lines, not to conceal them. The pre-Ilellenic and Hellenic earrings, form- ing an elaborate network of design in several stories, appear to have iulluenced the Etruscans more than the later (heeks; for the Greek ear- rings of the sixth and liflb centuries n.c. are ex- tremely sim]de and small, and it is not until the fourtli, and esiiccially the third, century n.c. that the richer Hellenistic art returned to the more elaborate style of design. The Etruscan tombs furnish the largest number of examples for the early part, those of southern Russia for the later part of this period. The museums con- taining the largest ninnber are: the tiregorian JIuseum at the "atican, the Campana Collection at the Louvre, the Castellani Collection at the British Museum, the Metropolitan Museum in Xew Vork — all of which have been gathered from the contents of Etruscan tombs — and the Hermit- age Collection at Saint Petersburg, with the su- perb series from southern Rtissia. especially from Kertch. They mvist be classified into two scries: votive earrings, of very thin gold and frail work- manship, made only for burying with the de- ceased: and earrings for use, of heavier workman- ship. The Etruscan tombs contain earrings that are both Italian and Greek — it is not easy to dis- dinguish them. They form the most numerous and continuous series uf ancient times, giving the styles during about six hundred years. The ma- terial is gold, embossed, with filigree and granu- lated work, of the famous technique which modern jewelers, headed by the great antiquarian artist. Castellani. have tried to revivify. The main Etruscan designs are the following: The hand-bag shape, formed of a plaque with liandle, decorated with spirals, granulations, balls or figured de- signs, linear or in relief — an early form, seventh century; the gondola shape, with a bunch of three drops decorated with little groups of ])earls, popular in the sixth century; the ear-plaque, a disk usually circular, but sometimes oval, square, or oblong, with borders and zones of orna- mental designs in relief and filigree and with its ])endent bunch of dnqis. as in the previous kind used in the fifth and fourth centuries: the ring with pendant, usually large and sometimes with a diminishing series of single drops, a style fre- (picnt in the latest toml)s of the fourth and third centuries. Some uiuisual specimens do not be- long to any of these types. An exquisite pair of late workmanship from liolsena, now in the Louvre, has for its central piece a vase, sur- mounted by Apollo as sun-god. drawn by four horses in a chariot, and accompanied by winged N'ielorics; its artistic beauties are to be seen only under a magnifier. Another beautiful pair from soulliern Russia, anumg the many at Saint Petersburg, has as centre a cireidar plaque with a Xereid on a Triton in relief. Sueli elabi>rate works have a profusicm of hanging figurines. Ilowers, fruits, birds, va.ses, chain-nets, and their gold-work is often enhanced by colored enamels. The late-Greek artists in the service of the kings of the region of the Bosporus, whose works aboimd in southern Russia. a[)pear to have ex- celled all others. Both Greek and Roman statues exist with the lobes of their ears bored for ear- rings — as in the Medici Venus. Roman. The Romans naturally inherited the taste from the Etru^eans and later borrowed forms from late-Greek art. Plinv says (xi.