Antique Rose Cut Diamond Chandelier Earrings 20k Chinese
1900s Straits Chinese earrings set with rose cut diamonds in 20k.
The ‘Art Nouveau’ motif in this pair is a simple gesture, of droplets gathered in a bunch, yet these minimal designs are often lost to us.
These are early hand cut rose cut diamonds, predominant in Straits Chinese jewelry of the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Such diamonds are the rose cut diamonds of South East Asia, their organic and primitive beauty set in much of early period jewelry.
Their widespread popularity was to afford ownership of diamonds to broader classes of society, and also because their organic subtle shine paired better with the gauze-like blousons of Peranakan culture.
Cotton, voile, and hand cut rose cut diamonds. Full cut diamonds were regarded serious and perhaps severe.
Historically, these rose cuts were distinct from Western rose cut diamonds in their uneven facets and very organic ways of splicing the diamonds instead of faceting.
Today these rose cuts have somewhat revived in Indonesia and Thailand, but modern rose cuts are just fancier, and revival jewelry made from newly cut rose cut diamonds are not as feather light as antique pieces.
The lightweight craftsmanship of such chandelier earrings in miniature form cannot be conveyed until one experiences wearing a pair, in particular an early period pair.
This pair is 5.5cm long.
