It seems that we often imagine the elite of past societies did not share our modern troubles, particularly when it comes to
the ladies. The ingenious pair of earrings above, however, begs to differ. From Napoleonic Paris, probably around 1800, come these lovely ear-bobs designed to take a lady from day to night, and on the fly no less. The heavy grape clusters at the bottom, formed of gold filigree leaves and freshwater pearls, detach from the more demure roundels of gold and pearls at the top. Thus a lux
Citoyenne, who may have an appointment with her dressmaker or an important social call in the afternoon, could be ready for a society supper or a trip to the theater in no time by simply retrieving the dangles of these earrings from her reticule and attaching them
tout de suite. Day to night Empire-style never looked so good.
Header: Beautifully preserved French earrings c 1800 via A Harlot's Progress (with which I admit to currently being obsessed)
2 comments:
Wow, those are some pretty imprssive earrings, Pauline. They look like they would be awfully heavy though...
I think probably with the attachable grape bundles they would be a little heavy. But then that's part of the genius; you don't have to wear them all day :)
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