These late Victorian earrings feel like a preview of the Arts & Crafts movement to come. The design is botanical but deliberately simplified rather than naturalistic, with the irregularly veined turquoises bringing a rustic quality that we associate with Arts & Crafts. Made around 1890, they sit right at the moment when Victorian jewelry was beginning to move away from formal ornament toward the more organic materials and flattened floral forms that would become central to Arts & Crafts design.
MATERIALS: 10k gold (tests), 2 10mm x 6.2mm oval cabochon turquoise matrix
AGE: c. 1890
CONDITION: Very good
SIZE: 1 1/2" length, 1/2" width