A pair of late eighteenth century earrings of girandole form, set with variously shaped colorless paste, closed-back and foiled in silver, exhibiting the characteristic 'black dot' of fine paste jewelry, with later shepherds earhooks, length 2 in, width 2 in, 39 grams, circa 1780. 

Paste jewelry, generally referring to pieces set with colorless or colored glass rather than gemstones, though sometimes including pieces set with rock crystal (quartz), has its origins for the collector in the eighteenth century. Though glass had been prized and utilized in jewelry for over a thousand years, the rise of diamond cutting techniques along with a taste for jewels that had the illusion of being 'paved' with gemstones gave way to the birth of paste jewelry. Whereas a mistake in cutting or setting diamonds and other gemstones could be exceedingly costly, the relatively inexpensive nature of paste resulted in an explosion of sophisticated artistic forms, colors, and techniques implemented by highly skilled craftsmen of the eighteenth and early nineteenth century. During this time, paste jewelry was worn by the most elite ladies and gentlemen of society, including Madame du Barry and Marie Antoinette, demonstrating that paste achieved a parallel status with diamonds and gemstones, rather than merely representing an imitation of these materials, thus solidifying its place in jewelry history.