Wouldn't you like to wear earrings based on real historical ones? You do not have to be a historical reenactor to appreciate classic designs which have stood the test of time. 

One designer is Sarah Lakin of HandmadeEarringsUK who specializes in making such reproductions. 

What Sarah does is to be inspired or actually replicate original period designs from hundreds or thousands of years ago based on what she sees in old portraits, pictures of real antique jewelry and even Roman mosaics!

My absolute favorite from her collections are her Victorian Etruscan Revival earrings shown above based on a picture of the 1880's original in an antiques website. 

The Ancient Etruscan civilization (in what is now Northern Italy) dates  from about 900 BCE- 27 BCE. Their goldsmiths were very skilled especially in the art of granulation. Archaeological finds during the Victorian period fascinated the Victorians and hence the Etruscan inspired pieces became wildly popular then. 

Girandole (or chandelier) earrings were particularly popular during the 18th century. This is Sarah's gorgeous design :


You can see many, many examples of girandole earrings from old portraits such as this one of Maria Luisa of Spain painted in 1764 by Anton Raphael Mengs.


I also liked Sarah's Tudor inspired girandole earrings where she handpainted the flower to sort of resemble a Tudor Rose . Combination of the red and white signifies the union of the House of Lancaster and the House of York which ended the War of the Roses. 


She explains in the listing description of her Roman inspired earrings below:
The design for these earrings is taken from an extant example, dating from 100-300 AD, housed in the Thorvaldsen Museum in Denmark, as seen in the second picture. Similar earrings feature in Roman mosaics - please see fourth picture.


The museum picture showing the 100-300 AD Roman earring shows how close she got to the design :


This is her Regency era earrings based on a picture from an antiques website. A vision in crystals!


Some Regency or Georgian era earrings - think Jane Austen or the Mad King George III -  are less showy like this pair of faux pearls adorned ones.  Pearls were apparently popular in the Regency era. 


Sarah said this design was inspired by :
the portrait of Mary Nisbet, Countess of Elgin (1777 - 1855), painted approximately 1804 (Georgian era) by François, Baron Gérard.


Sarah also covers more recent periods. I just love her Memphis Group (an Italian design and architecture group from the 1980's)  inspired wood jewelry for the geometric shapes and vibrant colors.

I've only touched on a fraction of what Sarah has to offer. Have a wander through her many collections and be charmed!



Before You Go:

Disclosure 

This blog may contain affiliate links. I do receive a small fee for any products purchased through affiliate links. This goes towards the support of this blog and to provide resource information to readers. The opinions expressed are solely my own. They would be the same whether or not I receive any compensation. 
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Original Post by THE BEADING GEM