These beautiful tear-shaped drop earrings are decorated with pietra dura inlay of pansy flowers and roses at the bottom. These flowers were likely chosen deliberately, since flowers often conveyed a hidden message in Victorian jewellery: pansy flowers are used to signal 'please think of me', while pink roses were worn as a symbol of admiration, happiness, and love. Therefore, these earrings have quite a romantic sentiment!
Pietra dura is an ancient and intricate technique in which a hard stone mineral - often onyx - is inlaid with other coloured minerals. In this particular example, the onyx has been inlaid with delicately carved brown, blue, pink and green agates, which give the flowers a realistic quality.
GENERAL INFORMATION
Size: Earrings: 58 x 16 mm, excluding the hooks.
Weight: Combined 9.12 grams.
Age: 19th Century, also known as the Victorian era, circa 1860s.
Material: Hallmarked with hallmarks that cannot be read anymore, and acid tested as 12k gold.
Condition: In antique condition with wear, consistent with their age. Both onyx drops have a crack running horizontally: in both cases, the crack has not extended to the back of the onyx, indicating that either the cracks are superficial, or the top onyxes are fixated on a different bottom. In any case, this means they still sit securely in their setting. Some of the bright blue agates that were used to create the pansies have faded, and one rose leaf is missing. Since onyx is such a saturated black, the cracks are not very noticeable in most light conditions: I therefore have added an extra picture in grazing light, so you can see the flaws clearly.
Please note that the antique box is for display purposes only.