Object of the Month: 

EMERALDS AND PEARLS - LUXURY AND GLAMOUR

In Ancient Rome the ladies of society loved beautiful textiles, perfumes and jewelry. Sumptuary laws imposed to limit ostentation and frivolous expenditure had been rarely successful. With increasing wealth and the expansion of the Empire women enjoyed wearing opulent jewels made of exotic gemstones from faraway regions. Pliny expressed his disapproval of the ever increasing size of gold rings and other contemporary authors their indignation about women wearing pearls of the same value of their estates. Emeralds from Egypt were highly prized and most fashionable especially worn in combination with pearls. These were traded from the Red Sea, the Persian Gulf and Southern India and were most desirable commodities because of their rarity. Pearls in Antiquity symbolized beauty, purity and fertility, all attributes of Venus, the goddess that had risen from the “foam of the sea”. Emeralds were associated with the glamorous queen Cleopatra, who is said to have given emeralds to all those whom she favored. Emeralds and pearls were a Roman ladies’ best friend.

VIEW RINGS