Classic Handmade Silver earrings. The granulation work in the six-granule triangles at bottom of each setting is very well done, very neat; it is a jewellery technique requiring considerable skill to get right, and concentration. Historically, it would seem to have been first used by the Sumerians of ancient Mesopotamia a few thousand years before Rome, but somewhat crudely. Over time, like over a thousand years and more, knowledge of the technique filtered through to the Etruscans of northern Italy, in the environs of the region now known as Tuscany. The Etruscans finessed the technique and a thousand years later it was part of the skill-set of jewellers of ancient Rome.
10mm round Carnelians set in the above Classic Handmade Silver earrings are of fine quality, the raw reddish-brown Chalcedony sourced from the age-old working mines of west India, source of this favoured gemstone for all the mighty kingdoms of antiquity, Sumerian, Persian, Egyptian….
The above matched Carnelians, uniform 2.5mm thick and polished both sides, are translucent when backed with some light, for the handmade settings are open at the rear.