Earrings: From Antiquety To The Present

There is an inexplicable magic about 'earrings', unmatched by any other kind of jewelry. Uniquely, they move with a life of their own, voluptuous yet pure, cold yet provocative. Earrings have been worn since prehistoric times; ancient civilizations offered earrings to their goddesses, and today they remain the most demanding and rewarding exercises of the jeweler's art. Daniela Mascetti and Amanda Triossi, both experts from Sotheby's, are themselves under the spell of earrings, and their erudition does not disguise that this book is as much a romance as a fine piece of art-historical research. The authors relate how the fashion of wearing precious earrings spread from ancient Egypt to the Classical Greek and Roman worlds to Byzantium. Techniques in the cutting of gemstones and diamonds, perfected in the eighteenth century, allowed earring design to evolve towards its most stylish and glamorous, and the book covers every period and style up to the present. The great names among designers and international jewelry houses--Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels, Harry Winston, Bulgari--are represented in dazzling displays of precious and semi-precious earrings. Illustrations range from Rococo flowers and long, heavy girondoles thick with diamonds and emeralds to chaste Neoclassical disks and the delicate nodding sprays of the late nineteenth century. A wide-ranging study that will be a rich source of inspiration and delight for collectors, designers, and fashion lovers, this is a feast for the eye and a revelation of the wonders that artistry can create. .