Earrings appear to have been fashionable in the Early Middle Ages, and then not at all through the High Middle Ages and Late Middle Ages -- and then become trendy again in the 16th century.
Oon more hier of stature þan x feete, blac of body, with houndis teeth, bisshop of that Oracle or praieng place, to vs appiered, of whom the earis perced and ouches and bies erin hangyng, and clad was with skynnes. Letter of Alexander to Aristotle (Worcester F. 172, ll. 677-682)
When they do appear in western Europe in the Late Middle Ages, earrings are a sign that the individual wearing them is not part of the norm -- the "other," to borrow the term from "Marked Difference: Earrings and 'The Other' in Fifteenth-Century Flemish Art" in Encountering Medieval Textiles and Dress -- often indicating that the person being depicted or described is meant to be Eastern or African. Note, for example, the use of earrings on scenes of the Adoration of the Magi. (Think of it as a sort of late medieval artistic shorthand for "exotic," rather than a depiction of something that followed the conventions of western European fashions at that time.)
What follows are links to information about extant earrings, as well as depictions of women (and men) wearing earrings.
Lombardic earrings
- Gold earring with rubies, emeralds, and garnets, 6th-7th century
- Basket earring, glass paste on gold, late 6th-7th century
- Basket earring, glass paste and garnet on gold, late 6th-7th century
- Basket earring, gold, 7th century
- Gold earring with garnet & glass inlays, 7th century
- Gold earrings with enamel, pearls, and glass, 7th century
- German earring, 6th-7th century
- Gold earrings from a 7th century grave
- Syrian earrings, 11th century
- A Fatimid gold earring, Syria, 12th century
- Four pairs of Seljuk earrings, northeast Persia, c. 12th century
- A pair of Seljuk gold gem-set earrings, Iran, 12th-13th century
- A filigree gold and enamel earring element, Nasrid Spain, 14th century
- Silver-gilt earring made in Romania in the 14th or 15th century
- The Erythraean Sibyl on The Ghent Altarpiece by Hubert and Jan van Eyck, 1432
- Portrait of Agnes Sorel
- David plays music (fol. 13v),
Solomon (fol. 121v), and
Constantine I on the throne (fol. 127v), in an Ethiopian psalter (BNF Ethiopien d'Abbadie 105), c. 1468-1478
- Executioner in the Martyrdom of St. Barbara, c. 1470-1500
- Epiphany by Hieronymus Bosch, 1475-1480
- Detail from Nativity by Friedrich Herlin, 1488
- Balthasar in Adoration of the Magi by Marx Reichlich, 1489
- Balthasar in Adoration of the Magi, c. 1495-1505
- Adoration of the Magi, c. 1500
- Balthasar in Adoration of the Magi by Jörg Breu the Elder, 1501
- Adoration of the Magi by Vasco Fernandes, 1501-1506
- Balthasar in Adoration of the Magi, 1503
- Adoration of the Magi by Albrecht Dürer, 1504 (see detail)
- The baptism of St. Paul by Hans Holbein the Elder, 1504
- Balthasar in Adoration of the Magi, c. 1505-1515
- Adoration of the Magi by Juan de Flandes, c. 1508-1519 (see detail)
- Adoration of the Magi by Hieronymus Bosch, c. 1510 (detail from center panel)
- Portrait of a girl by Sebastiano del Piombo, c. 1515
- Christ Carrying the Cross by Hieronymus Bosch, 1515-1516
- Portrait of a young lady by Bartolomeo Veneto, 1520s
- Portrait of a lady by Bernardino Luini, c. 1525
- Portrait of Laura Pisani, 1525
- Adoration of the Magi by Joos van Cleve, 1526-1528
- Triptich with the Adoration of the Magi by Pieter Coecke van Aelst
- Portrait of Eleanor, Queen of France by Joos van Cleve, c. 1530
- Portrait of a young woman by Titian, 1530s
- Portrait of a Roman courtesan by Parmigianino, 1530-1535
- La Bella by Titian, 1536
- Portrait of Isabella d'Este, Duchess of Mantua by Titian, 1536
- Portrait of Eleonora Gonzaga della Rovere by Urbino, 1536-1537
- Portrait of Eleonora Gonzaga by Titian, c. 1538
- Venus of Urbino by Titian, 1538
- Portrait of a young woman and her little boy by Agnolo Bronzino, c. 1540 (see detail)
- Portrait of Henri II by François Clouet, c. 1540
- Portrait of Bia, c. 1542
- Portrait of Eleanor of Toledo with her son Giovanni de' Medici by Agnolo Bronzino, c. 1544-1545
- Portrait of a girl by Titian, c. 1545
- Portrait of Eleanor of Toledo, c. 1550
- Portrait of François de Lorraine, c. 1550-1575
- Portrait of Livia da Porto Thiene and her daughter Porzia (also here) by Paolo Veronese, c. 1551
- Portrait of Maria de' Medici by Agnolo Bronzino, 1551
- Portrait of Catherine of Austria, Queen of Portugal, by Antonio Mor, c. 1552
- Portrait of Mary, Queen of Scots by François Clouet, 1552
- Portrait of the Dauphin (François II) by Léonard Limosin, c. 1553
- Young woman with a dish of fruit by Titian, c. 1555
- Profile portrait of a young woman by Sofonisban Anguissola
- Portrait of an unknown lady (The Lady in White) by Titian, 1560
- Portrait of Eleanor of Toledo by Allesandro Allori, c. 1560
- Portrait of Marguerite de Valois by François Clouet, c. 1560
- Portrait of Sofonisba Anguissola by Lucia Anguissola, 1560-1565
- Portrait of Claude de Beaune de Semblançay by François Clouet, 1567
- The Adoration of the Magi by Fray Nicolás Borrás, 1570s
- Portrait of a lady by Jacopo Zucci, 1570s
- Portrait of a woman by Alessandro Allori, 1570-1590
- Portrait of Queen Elizabeth by Federico Zuccaro, 1574
- Miniature of an unknown lady, c. 1575-1580
- Queen Katherine of Portugal (fol. 543) and Maria of Portugal (fol. 545) from the Portrait-Book of Hieronymus Beck von Leopoldsdorf (Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien IN 9691), c. 1575-1585
- Portrait of Henri III by François Clouet, c. 1581
- Portrait of Henri III by Jean Decourt, c. 1581
- Queen Elizabeth: The Sieve Portrait by Quentin Metsys the Younger, c. 1583
- Portrait of Queen Elizabeth, c. 1585
- Portrait of an unknown lady, c. 1586-1600
- Portrait of Bianca Cappello by Alessandro Allori
- Portrait of Sir Walter Raleigh, 1588
- Portrait miniature of a young man by Nicholas Hilliard, c. 1588
- Portrait of Diane de Poitiers, c. 1590
- Portrait of Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton, early 1590s
- Miniature of Queen Elizabeth by Nicholas Hilliard, c. 1590-1600
- Portrait of Queen Elizabeth, c. 1592
- Portrait of Marie de' Medici by Pietro Fachetti, c. 1593-1595
- Miniature portrait of Marie de' Medici
- The Penitent Magdalene by Caravaggio, 1594-1596; see detail
- Portrait of Gabrielle d'Estrées and one of her sisters, c. 1595
- Portrait of Gabrielle d'Estrées
- Portrait of Mary Fitton, c. 1595
- Miniature of Queen Elizabeth by Nicholas Hilliard, c. 1595-1600
- Judith Beheading Holofernes by Caravaggio, c. 1598
- Queen Elizabeth: The Hardwick Portrait, c. 1599
- Queen Elizabeth: The Rainbow Portrait, c. 1600
- The Eliza Triumphans, c. 1601
- Portrait of Queen Elizabeth
- Portrait of the Princess Royal (Elizabeth of Bohemia), 1603
- Portrait of Anne of Denmark, 1605
- Portrait of Princess Elizabeth (Elizabeth of Bohemia), 1606
- Pair of earrings with portrait miniatures, associated with Sir Alexander Fraser of Philorth and his wife Margaret Ogilvie, early 17th century
- Portrait of William Shakespeare
- Portrait of Lady Diana Cecil by William Larkin, c. 1614-1618
- Earrings and other jewelry from the Cheapside Hoard, 17th century
- Pocahontas' earrings and portrait of Pocahontas, 1616
- Portrait of Anne of Denmark by Paul van Somer, 1617
- Miniature portrait of a young man by Lawrence Hilliard
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