Zendaya's Earrings: 3,000-Year-Old Iranian Artifacts at the Heart of a Controversy

Herz — World Desk · 25 July 2026 at 13:38 · 30s summary · 2 min read

What We Know

At a photocall in London for the film "The Odyssey"—in which Zendaya plays the goddess Athena—the actress wore earrings made from Iranian artifacts dating approximately 3,000 years old. The event sparked a controversy, according to The Guardian.

The jewelry consists of gold medallion plates attributed to the "Ziwiye hoard," a collection of artifacts discovered in northwestern Iran in the late 1940s. They belong to Barron London, a specialized gallery based in Mayfair, London.

Barron London acquired the plates from London jeweler Glenn Spiro, who set them with diamonds in yellow gold. The gallery then lent them to Zendaya for the photocall.

The Controversy

Romina Frohar, founder of the Forensic Archive of Iran and doctoral researcher at Glasgow School of Art, launched a petition. She demands that Barron London publish the complete provenance of the plates, reveal its legal verification procedures, allow examination of the objects by specialists, and suspend their sale.

Expert Response

Dr. Christos Tsirogiannis, antiquities expert at the Swiss Federal Office of Culture, said he was "extremely surprised, negatively surprised" that no one in Zendaya's circle warned her, "after two-and-a-half decades of continuous scandals involving illicit antiquities."

Extremely surprised, negatively surprised that no one in Zendaya's circle warned her, after two-and-a-half decades of continuous scandals involving illicit antiquities.

— Dr. Christos Tsirogiannis, Antiquities Expert, Swiss Federal Office of Culture

Tsirogiannis estimates that approximately 90% of antiquities on the market are "illicit or lacking provenance and documentation."

The Numbers