Portrait of Barbara Villiers - jewellery detail, c1665

Barbara Villiers, Lady Castlemaine, a granddaughter of Barbara St.John, is best known as King Charles II's long term mistress and very much a lady of the court. The artist, Sir Peter Lely, shows her full of confidence, playing with a pearl bracelet on her left wrist and wearing strings of pearls in her hair.

Barbara's status is portrayed both by the setting and the fabric of her dress, gold coloured silk, the necklace and pearl at her breast drawing attention to the low cut neckline and her ‘physical charms’.

Pearls continued to be the jewel of choice in the 17th Century and it was no longer necessary to wear a variety or abundance of jewels to display wealth or status.