gems, zircon, ancient jewelry, Southeast Asia

Two decades ago, this author studied a small group of gold jewellery items from Java, Indonesia, dating to the Early Classic Period (circa 7th–10th centuries CE), in the context of connections between the Islamic and Far Eastern worlds as reflected in gold-jewellery manufacturing techniques (Ogden 2003, plate 1). More recently, the author had an opportunity to revisit these items and examine them from a gemmological perspective. Two of the pieces (Figures 20 and 21) are ornaments traditionally referred to as ‘bird rings’, based on the theory that they adorned the legs of pet birds, though it is more plausible that they were ear ornaments resembling modern ear cuffs (cf. Miksic 2011, pp. 162–167). One of the items, the broken example in Figure 20, is set with two small cabochons—one pinkish red, the other pale green. The second earring (Figure 21) contains a single pale green cabochon gem.