A pair of early nineteenth century earrings, mounted with foil-backed garnets and seed pearls, each earring formed in gold as a series of three connected floral clusters, with an additional floral cluster suspended and dangling, original back-to-front ear fittings, length 1.5 in, 5 grams, circa 1800. 

Garnets have been prized as gemstones for thousands of years; indeed Aristotle (384 BC - 322 BC) praised the qualities of garnet nearly 2500 years ago. In Greek mythology garnets symbolized devotion and eternal love. Throughout history garnets have been thought to prevent hemorrhaging, to diffuse anger, to protect travelers, and, during the thirteenth century, garnets were even believed to function as an insect repellent, inspiring bearers of such jewels to smother themselves in honey in order to prove the efficacy of the valued gem. Significant garnet deposits were discovered and mined in Bohemia, modern-day Czech Republic, in the sixteenth century, but popularity increased dramatically during the nineteenth century, particularly after Russian tsarinas attended the Vienna Congress in dresses bejeweled with garnets after the defeat of Napoleon in 1815. Jewelry items were designed to show minimal metal giving the appearance that the item was paved, or literally dripping, in garnets. As such, bohemian garnet jewelry of the mid-nineteenth to early twentieth century was commonly set in low carat gold or gilded metal, since the objective was to hide the interstitial metal to prominently feature the garnets themselves.