In his early English portraits van Dyck includes fashionable details of dress (such as the spiky lace cuffs seen here) that he later tended to omit or simplify. The queen’s bodice and skirt have been pinked with small wavy cuts to produce a decorative effect in the lustrous silvery-blue silk, while carnation-coloured ribbons add warmth to the cool palette. Upon her marriage Henrietta Maria brought a pair of large teardrop-shaped pearls with her from France, probably the earrings seen here. Later known as the Mancini pearls, they still survive today.