- Title
- Six Discal Earlobe Ornaments
- Date Made
- circa 500-200 BCE
- Medium
- Black chalcedony, red striated jasper, and green glass
- Dimensions
- Various sizes
- Accession Number
- AC1995.150.1.1-.6
- Collecting Area
- South and Southeast Asian Art
- Curatorial Notes
Discal earlobe ornaments (tatanka-chakra) are known in jewelry terminology as earplugs or ear gauges. These earplugs have slightly concave barrel sides that form a double flare (a flare at each end), which enables the plug to fit securely within the distended earlobe. Some eighty-five discal earplugs of various media were excavated at Nagda in the Ujjain district, so stratigraphically based chronological types have been determined. LACMA’s earplugs made of black chalcedony, red striated jasper, or green glass compare well to earplugs from Nagda’s Period III excavation phase attributed to circa 500-200 BCE. Later phase earplugs often feature incised decoration. See Michel Postel, Ear Ornaments of Ancient India, Project for Indian Cultural Studies II (Bombay: Franco-Indian Pharmaceuticals, 1989), pp. 38-41, figs. I.49-I.55, and I.37A; see also discal earplugs excavated from Kaushambi, Uttar Pradesh, p. 46, fig. I.63.
