From the 1830s to the 1870s, the Gothic Revival movement had America and Europe in a chokehold. People were fascinated with churches, chivalry, and heraldry of the Middle Ages. Victorians romanticized their Medieval past because they were fed up with the mechanized state of their world. (Make England Great Again!) The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and writers like John Ruskin helped popularize the idea that Gothic art was morally superior to industrial modernity. A feeling of hushed, churchy reverence was what designers sought out; here, long pointed forms resemble cathedral spires and Vampire-y urns. Hollow fabrication allowed for dramatic scale without heavy weight. Recommended reading: The Pre-Raphaelites in Love by Gay Daly.
MATERIALS: 14k gold (tests)
AGE: c. 1850
CONDITION: Good - the earrings are hollow and one of the tops was lightly split along the seam, we've had it repaired but it is ever so slightly flatter than its mate
SIZE: 3 3/8" length measured from the top of the ear wire, 3/4" at the widest point