Earrings

Object Type
Each earring is formed of a convex pierced rosette with a pearl in the centre. Below the rosette is fixed a bar set with four pearls and hung with pearl-tipped pendants. The design derives from a Byzantine type.

People
The firm of Castellani was founded in Rome by Fortunato Pio Castellani (1794-1865). In the mid-1820s Castellani won the patronage of the distinguished archaeologist Michelangelo Caetani, later Duke of Sermoneta. In 1851 Caetani inspired Castellani and his sons Alessandro (1823-1883) and Augusto (1829-1914) to concentrate on jewellery based on classical models.

Design & Designing
Emily, Dowager Countess of Crawford, wrote in 1921, when she presented this necklace to the V&A, together with a wreath and a pair of earrings (also on display), that they had been made 'from the design of Michelangelo, Duke of Sermoneta, in conjunction with Castellani', and she gave W. W. Watts, Keeper of Metalwork, to understand that they had been a wedding gift. As Emily Bootle-Wilbraham, in 1869 she had married James, Lord Lindsay, later 26th Earl of Crawford.

However, the jewellery historian Geoffrey Munn has pointed out that Michelangelo Caetani was blind from 1865. If it is true that the jewellery was a wedding gift and that Caetani had some influence on the design, the simplest explanation may be that the jewellery given to Emily in 1869 was a further development of a design conceived earlier by Caetani and Castellani.