Jewelerman, Richard Sherwood--help with mystery earrings!

[glitterata]

Or anybody else, of course.

I bought these earrings from a very nice woman who told me her great grandmother had given them to her grandmother. She believes they''re from the 1890s or early 1900s. The great-grandmother in question was born in what is now the Czech Republic, and the family immigrated to the US. The screw-on findings are marked 14K. The seller believes her grandmother added the findings. The dangles appear to be made of thin gold, but are not marked.

When I saw the earrings I thought they didn''t look European, but I have no idea where they come from. Any ideas, anyone?

The seller sent me photos of the other jewelry she inherited from her grandmother: a pair of well-made 19th-century gold earrings with seed pearls and two pairs of somewhat elaborate rose-cut diamond earrings, one set in gold and one set in what looks to me like silver. None of them looked like these earrings to me.

Is this just an Eastern European gold-working style I''m not familiar with?

 

[glitterata]

With a penny, for scale.

 

[glitterata]

Back view:

 

[glitterata]

Side view:

 

[glitterata]

Looking down from the top:

 

[Richard Sherwood]

The bead work, wire work and granulation, along with the hammered finish suggest Italian "Etruscan revival" influence, circa 1890 (although they could easily be of Eastern European origin).

The findings are a more recent add-on.

 

[glitterata]

Really? They look so different in form from any other Etruscan revival pieces I''ve ever seen, though. I agree that the granulation and wire work look Etruscan, but the quasi-human shape with what look almost like stylized faces looks, I don''t know, Mexican or African to me.

But you know far more about this than I do.

 

[crown1]

no expert here but it looks a little like the two bottom pieces may not have been together in the beginning. i have run into a lot of married pieces over the years. not saying this is the case just that it is a possibility.

 

[oddoneout]

They''re very interesting wherever they''re from.

 

[glitterata]

Hmm. Thanks for the comments & help.

I''m pretty sure the two halves of the dangles go together. They''re the same metal, the same technique, and well attached. But the screw-on fittings are later.

Richard''s suggestion makes the most sense, of course. It fits with the techniques and the family story, and the only reason I have to doubt it is a vague feeling.

Well, if Etruscan-revival jewelry was supposed to imitate archeological finds, these earrings definitely fit the bill. The dents help.

They look striking on. They''re big, but light. I need to replace the findings with wires.

 

[jewelerman]

Date: 10/17/2009 3:31:29 PM
Author:glitterata
Or anybody else, of course.

I bought these earrings from a very nice woman who told me her great grandmother had given them to her grandmother. She believes they''re from the 1890s or early 1900s. The great-grandmother in question was born in what is now the Czech Republic, and the family immigrated to the US. The screw-on findings are marked 14K. The seller believes her grandmother added the findings. The dangles appear to be made of thin gold, but are not marked.

When I saw the earrings I thought they didn''t look European, but I have no idea where they come from. Any ideas, anyone?

The seller sent me photos of the other jewelry she inherited from her grandmother: a pair of well-made 19th-century gold earrings with seed pearls and two pairs of somewhat elaborate rose-cut diamond earrings, one set in gold and one set in what looks to me like silver. None of them looked like these earrings to me.

Is this just an Eastern European gold-working style I''m not familiar with?

African.All the design elements and the raw-ness of the handwork point to african tribal work in my opinion.You will see in art history that at the turn of the century there was a group of artists who used african art as their inspiration to create modern themes(Madigioni(sp) and Picasso are a few in the late teens early 20s who were inspired by african masks and art).The early partons of modern art loved African objects because of the raw-ness and the unset it caused in polite society.These remind me of African busts of their beautiful women(how polite society wore cameos to show off beautiful women of the day)I would bring these to a university art museam and see what they can tell you.The university that i recently graduated from has inherited a great collection og tribal African art!

 

[glitterata]

Date: 10/18/2009 2:55:21 PM
Author: jewelerman

Date: 10/17/2009 3:31:29 PM

Author:glitterata

Or anybody else, of course.


I bought these earrings from a very nice woman who told me her great grandmother had given them to her grandmother. She believes they''re from the 1890s or early 1900s. The great-grandmother in question was born in what is now the Czech Republic, and the family immigrated to the US. The screw-on findings are marked 14K. The seller believes her grandmother added the findings. The dangles appear to be made of thin gold, but are not marked.


When I saw the earrings I thought they didn''t look European, but I have no idea where they come from. Any ideas, anyone?


The seller sent me photos of the other jewelry she inherited from her grandmother: a pair of well-made 19th-century gold earrings with seed pearls and two pairs of somewhat elaborate rose-cut diamond earrings, one set in gold and one set in what looks to me like silver. None of them looked like these earrings to me.


Is this just an Eastern European gold-working style I''m not familiar with?

African.All the design elements and the raw-ness of the handwork point to african tribal work in my opinion.You will see in art history that at the turn of the century there was a group of artists who used african art as their inspiration to create modern themes(Madigioni(sp) and Picasso are a few in the late teens early 20s who were inspired by african masks and art).The early partons of modern art loved African objects because of the raw-ness and the unset it caused in polite society.These remind me of African busts of their beautiful women(how polite society wore cameos to show off beautiful women of the day)I would bring these to a university art museam and see what they can tell you.The university that i recently graduated from has inherited a great collection og tribal African art!

That''s so interesting, Jewelerman, I thought African too!

Specifically, they remind me of Akua''ba--fertility dolls from Ghana. Here''s an example. Those are made of wood, not gold, but they have the same large, disklike heads and ringed necks as my earrings (if my earrings are figurines).

I thought my earrings might be from the Gold Coast regions. But my online searches of gold from the Akan & Ashanti cultures didn''t turn up anything made with these techniques. I saw lots of gold made by lost wax casting, not granulation and wire work.

Okay, I''ll go back to being unsure about these earrings.

 

[AdiS]

Date: 10/18/2009 2:55:21 PM
Author: jewelerman
African.All the design elements and the raw-ness of the handwork point to african tribal work in my opinion.You will see in art history that at the turn of the century there was a group of artists who used african art as their inspiration to create modern themes(Madigioni(sp) and Picasso are a few in the late teens early 20s who were inspired by african masks and art).The early partons of modern art loved African objects because of the raw-ness and the unset it caused in polite society.These remind me of African busts of their beautiful women(how polite society wore cameos to show off beautiful women of the day)I would bring these to a university art museam and see what they can tell you.The university that i recently graduated from has inherited a great collection og tribal African art!

That''s what I thought too. I could be wrong of course, but being an Eastern-European myself, I have to say they don''t look like anything I''ve seen from this region. They''re lovely though, wherever they come from!

 

[glitterata]

Thank you, AdiS-of-the-lovely-marquise.

If only an African member would weigh in.

 

[glitterata]

Mystery solved!