Carnaval Glass

While Joel Arthur Rosenthal (b. 1943), the founder of JAR, may not be the most prolific jeweler, he is one of the most exclusive. In fact, Rosenthal has no need for prominent signage or window displays at his famed Place Vendôme boutique in Paris because he opens the door only for a select few, including Elle Macpherson, Mary Pinault and Jo Carole Lauder, among others. Rosenthal’s dazzling, sculptural earrings and other jewelry are internationally adored, but his sales tactics are rather unique — he’s notoriously reclusive, shies away from publicity and advertising, and clients are received only after he’s personally approved them. 

The New York City–born designer didn’t plan on a career in the jewelry industry. After graduating from Harvard University with a degree in art history and philosophy, a young Rosenthal moved to Paris, where he opened a needlepoint shop. It was off to a slow start, but after a short time, his unusual color pairings and imaginative stitchwork drew in designers from Hermès and Valentino. Rosenthal was tasked with designing a mount for a gemstone by one of his fashion-industry clientele, and he soon moved beyond textile arts. 

With a newfound interest in fashion and design, Rosenthal briefly returned to his native New York City, where he worked as a salesperson in BVLGARI’s Fifth Avenue store. His fascination with jewels lured him back to Paris in 1977 to open his own jewelry boutique with his partner, a Swiss psychiatrist named Pierre Jeannet.

In his jewelry shop’s early days, Rosenthal, working with largely affordable stones such as coral, set gems in pavé arrangements that recalled the meticulousness of his needlepoint projects. Although he’d become known among fashion’s elite in Paris, the name JAR was still relatively unfamiliar to his soon-to-be international clientele. An acclaimed exhibition at London’s Somerset House in 2002 changed that.

Rosenthal became a global icon following the 400-piece show, in which the lights were dimmed and guests, armed with flashlights, navigated the display cases of shimmering necklaces and rings adorned in sapphires and diamonds. His now-revered Pansy ear clips — comely floral pieces sculpted from aluminum and mounted in gold — were made available for purchase at the show, while pairs were gifted to those who loaned him their jewels for the exhibition.

Like the Pansy earrings, Rosenthal’s pieces are typically inspired by delicate shapes found in nature. One such piece is a ruby-encrusted camellia brooch, which sold in 2012 at a charity auction held at Christie’s for $4.3 million. 

Rosenthal still lives in Paris, where he designs approximately 70 pieces every year.

Browse JAR jewelry today on 1stDibs.

In the United States, ear piercing didn’t really become popular until the 1950s and ‘60s, but our desire for a dazzling pair of vintage earrings has deeper roots than that. In fact, wearing earrings actually goes back thousands of years, and you can find many tangible connections between now and then in how we continue to talk about these treasured accessories.

Women wore ornamental earrings — studs and hoops at the very least — in Ancient Egypt, which is home to mines that are among the earliest sources of emeralds in the world. Emerald earrings are highly prized today, and their quality lies in their rich, saturated color. The highest-quality emeralds are green or bluish-green. Earrings worn by the affluent in early Roman civilizations were set with precious stones such as diamonds and pearls, and a clean-looking pop of pearl on the front of the lobe is as timeless as ever. Hoop earrings are imbued with symbolism and cultural significance for many, and on view in the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Ancient Near Eastern Art Gallery is a pair of simple gold hoops from Mesopotamia dating to between 2600 and 2500 B.C.

Today, ear piercing is very popular all over the world, and, as a result, it is difficult to overstate how much everyone pines for a good pair of earrings — modernist drop earrings, glamorous Victorian hoops, geometrically complex chandelier earrings, you name it. Sure, jewelry trends and the fashion darlings of social media come and go, but earrings have a staying power that seems impenetrable: The still-strong love affair between British royals and Cartier earrings is more than a century old, glossy 1970s hoops from legacy houses such as Bulgari and Van Cleef & Arpels remain the statement makers they’ve always been and although people have been stacking earrings for many moons, the allure of an expertly mismatched stack of charms and studs still feels fresh and new.

While there is no shortage of modern earring designs to choose from, the classics, like coral earrings, Art Deco–style earrings and diamond drop earrings are still heavy hitters. On 1stDibs, find a wide range of antique, new and vintage earrings today.