Locket thumbnail 1
Image of Gallery in South Kensington
On display at V&A South Kensington
Jewellery, Rooms 91 to 93 mezzanine, The William and Judith Bollinger Gallery

Locket

1775-1800 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Memorial jewellery to honour the dead is one of the largest categories of 18th- century jewellery to survive.

From 1760 there was a new vogue for memorial medallions or lockets. These became especially popular in Britain, though similar work was produced throughout Europe.

The lockets could be bought ready made, and the designs were standardised. Neo-classical motifs of funerary urns, plinths and obelisks joined the more traditional cherubs, angels and weeping willows.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Engraved gold, ivory, watercolour
Brief description
Engraved gold frame, ivory painted in watercolour, England, 1775-1800
Physical description
Engraved gold frame enclosing ivory with watercolour miniature of a woman seated beneath a tree, a dog at her feet, pointing to a locket or plaque.
Dimensions
  • Height: 3.5cm
  • Width: 2.1cm
  • Depth: 0.7cm
Object history
Part of a group of memorial and mourning jewels bought from Dr Marco Guastalla, acting on behalf of 'an English lady residing in Italy' (museum numbers 846-1888 to 989-1888)
Subjects depicted
Summary
Memorial jewellery to honour the dead is one of the largest categories of 18th- century jewellery to survive.

From 1760 there was a new vogue for memorial medallions or lockets. These became especially popular in Britain, though similar work was produced throughout Europe.

The lockets could be bought ready made, and the designs were standardised. Neo-classical motifs of funerary urns, plinths and obelisks joined the more traditional cherubs, angels and weeping willows.
Collection
Accession number
922-1888

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Record createdJuly 19, 2006
Record URL
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