A jeweler in St. Petersburg flips through a worn copy of The Ruins of Athens, and architectural flourishes from ancient Greek temples are rearranged and rendered in gold, pearls and colored enamels. The finished earrings are bought by a woman wrapped in furs and black velvet. She wears them as she walks past the Tsar’s winter palace. Empires rise and fall, she thinks, but great style is eternal.

14k yellow gold, fluted amphorae drops, black and blue enamel starbursts radiating from tiny seed pearls. Imperial Russian hallmarks, late 19th century. 2.5" in length w/shepherd’s hook backs.