Antique jewelry glossary

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Ear-plug

An ear ornament, sometimes in papyrus-column form (having a flattened head, resembling an Egyptian papyrus stalk), to be inserted into the lobe of the ear, especially to distend it.The plugs were pierced vertically.

Examples made of glass in Egypt during the XVIIIth and XIXth Dynasties (c. 1552 BC -1185 BC) are of various colours, some with opaque enclosed threads making a pattern of contrasting colours. Somewhat different are earplugs made of glass in China, being either cylindrical with one large extended head at the front end or spool-like with flared terminals.

From: An Illustrated Dictionary of Jewelry, autor: Harold Newman, publishers: Thames and Hudson