Earstring

Jewellery

Detachable lovelock
One of the most unique jewellery innovations of the seventeenth century was the earstring, both worn by women and by men at that time. The most common model was a long piece of silk thread, decorated at the ends with rosettes of ribbon. Often the jewellery was only worn on one side, usually on the left. It was a kind of detachable lovelock, a narrow lock of hair, longer than the rest of the hair, which falls over the left shoulder. A hairstyle that was mainly worn by men at that time. In a painting by Marcus Gerards de Jonge from around 1620 Margaret Layton is wearing earstrings, each with a ruby pendant and a pearl. Nowadays we see many elegant earstrings in the form of very fine silver or gold chains.

Image: © Debra Shepard

 

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