Description
Solid 925 sterling silver garnet earrings.
The word garnet comes from the 14th‑century Middle English word gernet, meaning ‘dark red’. It is derived from the Latin granatus, from granum (‘grain, seed’). This is possibly a reference to mela granatum or even pomum granatum (‘pomegranate’, Punica granatum), a plant whose fruits contain abundant and vivid red seed covers, which are similar in shape, size, and colour to some garnet crystals.
Red garnets were the most commonly used gemstones in the Late Antique Roman world, and the Migration Period art of the “barbarian” peoples who took over the territory of the Western Roman Empire. They were especially used inlaid in gold cells in the cloisonné technique, a style often just called garnet cloisonné, found from Anglo-Saxon England, as at Sutton Hoo, to the Black Sea.
