Earring

Italian women have always loved lavish display. Even for the poorest, a rich show of jewellery was all important. Italian goldsmiths were expert at making a little material go a very long way. Many pieces seem too large to wear comfortably, but they are usually made of very thin gold, and are much lighter than they appear.

All Italian women wore gold earrings. Their shapes varied widely in different places. This earring comes from Bovino, in Apulia, but earrings of this type, with decorative motifs strung across a hoop, were made and worn throughout southern Italy. It has the gold marks of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. Goldsmiths in the south of Italy used red gold mostly, often mixed with yellow gold filigree.

It was bought as part of the Castellani collection of Italian Peasant Jewellery at the International Exhibition, Paris, 1867. At the top of the wire there is a small loop, through which the wearer threaded a ribbon, to help relieve the strain on the ear-lobe.