Wednesday, February 21, 2007 Decorating the ears By Lady Ochel Espinosa
EARRINGS are believed to have originated inWestern Asia in about 3000 B.C. From the beginning, there were two main types of earrings: the simple hoop, and the more elaborate pendant. The oldest earrings ever unearthed by archaeologists date to about 2,500 B.C. and were discovered in Iraq (of all places) at the royal graves of Ur. Hoop earrings of gold, silver, and bronze have also been found in ancient graves in Crete, dating to about 2000 B.C. Although burying jewels along with the dead was customary at the time, the everyday use of earrings has been well documented, too, thanks to enduring images on coins, vase paintings, and terra-cotta figures.
During the New Kingdom of ancient Egypt (1559 B.C. to 1085 B.C.), so-called earplugs came into fashion. This type of earring had a groove cut into it, which would fit snuggly inside a widely stretched hole in the earlobe. Such "piercings" are evident in the sculpture of King Tutankhamen, at left, who ruled from 1361 B.C. to 1352 B.C.
In the Dark Ages, from roughly 1100 B.C. to 800 B.C., poverty prevailed and works in precious metals were sharply curtailed. Some goldsmiths continued working throughout the Dark Ages, however, preserving designs that would later be reintroduced in Greece around the 7th century B.C.
One popular type of pendant earring to emerge in Greece in the 2nd century B.C. featured a bird (usually a peacock, dove, or swan) made from glass paste. Also common during this time were pendants displaying likenesses of the gods Eros and Nike.
During the Roman Empire, earrings became a favored way of wealthy women to show off their riches and, in the 2nd century A.D., gemstones - including sapphires, emeralds, topazes, and aquamarines - became much more frequently used in jewelry making.
During the long Byzantine period, from about 330 A.D. to 1200 A.D., fashionable women often forsook earrings in favor of rather garish ornaments that covered the sides of the face - as did the Empress Theodora, pictured at right.
In the Middle Ages, from around 1200 A.D. to 1500 A.D., the wearing of earrings was practically smothered (literally!) by the styles adopted in hair and dress. Along with elaborate hairdos and headdresses, high-collared outfits rendered earrings largely impractical.
Throughout the Middle Ages and subsequent Renaissance, respectable married women were, in fact, expected to keep their heads covered while in public. Appearing otherwise was considered immoral.
Things started to loosen up a bit, though, in Italy in the 16th century. Earrings began making a comeback of sorts in the 1530s, due, in large part, to a significant change in women's hairstyles. Women began wear their hair swept up and away from the face, leaving the ears exposed. In Spain, England, and France, however, extremely high collars kept earrings out of fashion for another 100 years or so.
By the middle of the 17th century, though, earrings had become an essential component of the well-dressed woman's attire all across Europe.
Earring design became increasingly complex in the 17th century and, around 1660, the popular girandole earring made its first appearance (girandoles would remain a favorite for the next couple of centuries). These exceedingly large earrings featured a surmount with three pear-shaped drops, usually with the largest one in the center, suspended from a hook. Due to the substantial amount of gold or silver, as well as the numerous gemstones, that went into girandoles, they were inordinately heavy and took a toll on the wearer's ears. In fact, despite efforts to add special ribbons to girandoles that could be wrapped around the ears or attached to the hair in order to relieve some of the weight, many girandole enthusiasts eventually suffered from elongated earlobes.
One such victim was England's Queen Victoria who, although she ruled in the 19th century, was partial to wearing the girandole earrings of her grandmother, Queen Charlotte. After a lifetime of lugging around such weighty, jewel-encrusted earrings, Victoria's earlobes were noticeably distended by her later years.
At this point, we should probably note that, of course, not all earring wearers from generations past were royalty or fabulously wealthy. It just appears this way because most of the historical documentation available today descends directly from the moneyed set. The reasons for this are simple: the rich were the only ones who could afford extravagant pieces of jewelry, and, likewise, afford to have their portraits painted. Anyway, rest assured, many so-called "commoners" wore earrings, too. Their earrings, admittedly, tended to be more of the costume-jewelry variety - that is, replicas rather than actual gold and diamonds - but the styles were modeled after the more expensive versions.)
