This exquisite late Georgian or early Victorian heart-shaped mourning locket features two lovely scenes composed using strands of human hair. One side features a pansy in a stylized leaf surround. "Pansy" comes from the French pense meaning "to think." Lovers of a hidden meaning, the five-petaled flower was frequently used in 18th and 19th century jewelry to express the sentiment "think of me." The obverse features a beautifully rendered mourning scene with a gravestone beneath a weeping willow. The use of hair in memorial or love token jewelry was incredibly common in the 18th and 19th centuries. In the days before the photograph, locks of hair (or incredible art works made from hair like this locket!) were a physical reminder of a loved one. The sentiment behind the use of hair in memorial jewelry is beautifully described in this quote from the 1860 Godey's Lady's Book: "Hair is at once the most delicate and lasting of our materials and survives us like love. It is so light, so gentle, so escaping from the idea of death, that, with a lock of hair belonging to a child or friend, we may almost look to heaven and compare notes with angelic nature, may almost say: 'I have a piece of thee here, not unworthy of thy being now.'"
thedetails
- Materials
10k gold fittings (tests), hair and paint over vellum
- Age
c. 1840
- Condition
Excellent - a few tiny hairs out of place but close to perfect
- Size
1 3/8" long including the split ring bale, just a touch over 1" wide
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Aboutthe
VictorianEra
1837 — 1901
The Victorians were avid consumers and novelty-seekers, especially when it came to fashion, and numerous fads came and went throughout the 19th century. In jewelry, whatever fashion choices Queen V. made reverberated throughout the kingdom. The Romantic period reflected the queen’s legendary love for her husband, Albert.
Jewelry from this period featured joyful designs like flowers, hearts, and birds, all which often had symbolic meaning. The queen’s betrothal ring was made in the shape of a snake, which stood for love, fidelity, and eternity. The exuberant tone shifted after Prince Albert passed away in 1861, marking the beginning of the Grand Period. Black jewelry became de rigeur as the Queen and her subjects entered “mourning,” which at the time represented not just an emotional state, as we conceive of it today, but a specific manner of conduct and dress. She wore the color black for the remainder of her life, and we see lots of black onyx, enamel, jet, and gutta percha in the jewelry from this time. Finally, during the late Victorian period, which transitioned along with a rapidly changing world into the “Aesthetic Movement”, there was a return to organic and whimsical motifs: serpents, crescent moons, animals, and Japonaisserie designed for the more liberated “Gibson Girl”. During the second half of the 19th century, America entered the global jewelry market, with Tiffany and Co. leading the way. Lapidaries continued to perfect their techniques, and the old European cut emerged toward the end of the Victorian period. The discovery of rich diamond mines in South Africa made the colorless stones more accessible than ever before.
