Earrings
These earrings belong to a demi-parure that also includes a matching brooch. Carved coral sprays of flowers and leaves with minutely fluted edges hang from gold shepherd’s hook fasteners. The large carved rosettes at the bottom of each earring are removable. The demi-parure retains its original shaped green leather case with white satin and pale green velvet interior. The inside of the case is stamped in gold letters "Tiffany & Co /550 Broadway 552/ New York." The first iteration of Tiffany & Company was founded in New York City in 1837 and specialized in stationery and fancy goods. In the decades that followed, Tiffany & Co would become a favorite jewelry destination of the Gilded Age elite, boasting branches in London and Paris.
Coral was believed by classical civilizations to possess therapeutic and apotropaic powers, and it has been used as ornament since ancient times. It remained a staple of jewelry design in Victorian America. Coral is an organic gem, the skeleton of tiny marine animals called polyps. During the mid-nineteenth century, when this demi-parure was fabricated, coral was mainly harvested from the Mediterranean waters surrounding Naples. Coral is durable yet soft enough to be carved easily, and it was well-suited for the intricate, naturalistic floral jewelry made popular by the nineteenth-century Rococo revival.
Coral was believed by classical civilizations to possess therapeutic and apotropaic powers, and it has been used as ornament since ancient times. It remained a staple of jewelry design in Victorian America. Coral is an organic gem, the skeleton of tiny marine animals called polyps. During the mid-nineteenth century, when this demi-parure was fabricated, coral was mainly harvested from the Mediterranean waters surrounding Naples. Coral is durable yet soft enough to be carved easily, and it was well-suited for the intricate, naturalistic floral jewelry made popular by the nineteenth-century Rococo revival.
Artwork Details
- Title: Earrings
- Maker: Tiffany & Co. (1837–present)
- Date: 1854–70
- Geography: Made in New York, New York, United States
- Culture: American
- Medium: Coral and gold
- Dimensions: Earrings: 11/16 x 1 13/16 in. (1.7 x 4.6 cm)
- Credit Line: Purchase, Susan and Jon Rotenstreich Gift, 2000
- Object Number: 2000.564.2a, b
- Curatorial Department: The American Wing
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