Mastery of Design: A Pair of Enameled Ruby, Diamond and Pearl Earrings, 1860

Earrings
Rubies, Diamond, Pearls, Enamel, Gold
1860
The Victoria & Albert Museum

This stunning pair of earrings of enameled gold is set with brilliant-cut diamonds, rubies, and pearls. Chances are, these earrings were most likely adapted from pendants from a matching necklace which is still in existence in the Victoria & Albert Museum. This is evidenced by the fact that the central stones are not of equal size and probably came from pendants mounted a different locations on the necklace.

Though the design of these earrings is decidedly Indian, the construction is most likely European, particularly French. French jewelers and English jewelers alike tried, for awhile, to emulate the look of the Indian jewelry which had been so admired at the 1851 Great Exhibition.

Indian jewels of the era were characterized by their rich appearance—a look that was achieved by combining enameled gold with heavy settings of pearls and dense patterns of thinly cut colored stones.