The earring on display is an openwork piece consisting of several parts, including a teardrop-shaped element in a frame. The back of the earring features a plate made of fine silver that comprises several distinct segments.
A thin, narrow bulge runs along the center of the piece, where the two plate segments join. A third segment, in the form of a thin, narrow strip measuring approximately three millimeters in height, is soldered onto the reverse side. All the elements of the front openwork component are attached to this third segment. The upper part of the earring consists of a circular silver plate that is encircled by a similar rim made from a thin silver band. This design forms a deep setting for an insert. A twisted wire, also made of silver, is soldered around the perimeter of the setting. It is partially preserved.
In the upper portion of the earring, on both sides and between the two main components, there are two ribbed elements in the form of coils that have been partially preserved.
The other component of the earring is a tear-shaped silver plate, with a setting soldered to the center of the plate. The setting is created from a thin strip, measuring approximately two to three millimeters in height and one millimeter in thickness. It has an undulating shape, however, as the artifact was kept in poor conditions, a portion of the setting has been lost. Two ribbed wires are soldered around the perimeter of the setting, and two additional ribbed wires are attached at a distance of approximately four millimeters away from the first pair. This arrangement creates a space between parallel rows of filigree wires, which encloses a pattern in the shape of curls formed by intertwined wires.
The earring is made in the filigree technique which involves creating openwork patterns or soldered designs using wire. The term “filigree” reflects the manufacturing process: the latin filum means “a string”, and granum — “a grain”. The Russian word for this technique is “skan” — from the Old Russian “skat”, meaning “to weave”.
Most often, filigree work was done in silver, although the patterns could also be made from gold and other metals. Both silver and gold are soft metals that can be easily drawn into very fine wires. The wires for the decorative patterns could be smooth or twisted into ropes or spirals.
The earring on display was discovered in 1972 during an archaeological excavation conducted by the Institute of Archaeology of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR and the Rostov Regional Museum of Local Lore in the Bagayevsky region. It was found in the Shakhayevskaya-II burial site, within kurgan No. 7, burial No. 1.
