jenkahnjewelry
Nebra Disc Earrings with Roman Glass and Textured Spears
As part of a limited release, this pair features my sculpted Brass Nebra Discs above a pair of chunky roman glass beads, suspending a pair of tiny, textures spears in brass.
The Nebra sky disc is a bronze disc of around 12" diameter and a weight of 5lbs, having a blue-green patina and inlaid with gold symbols (see last photo). These symbols are interpreted as the Sun or full moon, a lunar crescent,and stars (including a cluster of seven stars interpreted as the Pleiades). Two golden arcs along the sides, interpreted to mark the angle between the solstices, were added later. A final addition was another arc at the bottom with internal parallel lines, which is usually interpreted as a solar boat or a rainbow or even the Aurora Borealis.
It features the oldest concrete depiction of astronomical phenomena known from anywhere in the world. In June 2013, it was included in the UNESCO Memory of the World Register and termed "one of the most important archaeological finds of the twentieth century."
Roman glass is the result of a stunning piece of historic craftsmanship dating back 2,700 years to the time of the Roman Empire. The people of the Roman Empire used more glass than any other ancient civilization. The same sands used to make the glass helped preserve it through the centuries, shaping and molding it into the beautiful pieces excavated today. Two thousand years of burial in minerals and soil combined with wind and weather has resulted in pigmented deposits on the surface of the glass. Through oxidation, the pigment has developed into beautiful patinas of blues and greens, although other rarer colors can still bebeautiful patinas of blues and greens, although other rarer colors can still be found.
Nebra discs are 1 1/8" in diameter and the total length from earwires to the bottoms of the spears is 3 1/4", These are suspended from Sterling Silver earwires.