It is truly astonishing what fascinating craftsmanship ancient or medieval goldsmiths possessed, considering the tools, processing techniques and lighting options available at the time. From our point of view, what is even more remarkable is the enormous quality of the goldsmith's objects that resulted from this and were handed down to us.
A less well-known example is the so-called Treasure of Preslav or Preslav called. The Treasure of Preslav was a significant archaeological find in the city of Preslav, Bulgaria. Discovered in the 1970s, it consists of an impressive collection of gold and silver jewelry, coins and other valuable artifacts. This treasure dates back to the 10th century and is associated with Byzantine rule over Bulgaria. It is an important historical find that says a lot about the culture and history of this period in Bulgaria.
This particularly extensive bridal gift for the wedding of a young Byzantine princess to a Bulgarian tsar is of such exquisite quality that it inspired us to create the pair of earrings presented here. We chose the central ornament from this treasure's necklace - a pendant with an enchanting depiction of the praying Mary - as an ornament for our earrings.
Like the Byzantine model, our enameled earring replicas made of 925/- sterling silver were provided with a pearl wreath made of the finest seed pearls and the bridge enamel with the depiction of the Virgin Mary was elaborately fired by hand in several passes, sanded, polished and then set into the earrings gilded with fine gold . In any case, we are very happy with the result and the proximity to the ancient model.