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Brooch
Jamieson, Charles - Enlarge image
Brooch
- Place of origin:
Inverness, Scotland (made)
- Date:
ca. 1800 (made)
- Artist/Maker:
Jamieson, Charles (maker)
- Materials and Techniques:
Cast silver
- Credit Line:
Lt. Col. G. B. Croft-Lyons Bequest
- Museum number:
M.809-1926
- Gallery location:
Jewellery, room 91 mezzanine, case 69, shelf C, box 3
The traditional jewellery of Norway and Scotland shows the strong historic and geographic links between the two countries.
In both places the ring brooch is the most distinctive item. They differ from modern brooches in the way they fasten. The wearer pulls the cloth of the garment through the central hole, and then spears it with the pin. The greater the strain on the pin, the more secure the fastening.
Heart brooches are one of the commonest surviving types of Scottish traditional brooch. They are sometimes called luckenbooth brooches, after the stalls round St. Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh, where they were sold in the 19th century. They are also known as witches’ brooches. Small heart brooches were often fastened in children’s clothing for ‘averting the evil eye and keeping away witches’. Mothers also wore them to prevent the witches from stealing their milk. They were frequently given as love tokens. Women wore them at the neck of their shift to close the front opening.
This heart brooch has the letters CJ stamped on the back, which was the mark of Charles Jamieson, who worked in the northern town of Inverness from 1797 – 1819. He was a prolific maker of various kinds of silverware, including many heart brooches of this type. The stylised crown at the top and the slight projections at the sides and bottom are all characteristic of traditional Scottish heart brooches.
