Locket

Object Type
This locket in the shape of a coffin is an example of mourning jewellery. It may have been made specially for the period of mourning. This was a common practice, and wills might specify a sum of money to buy rings or other jewellery for the mourners. These items often included the initials and date of death of the deceased, with perhaps a special compartment to store hair from the dead person.

Time
Mourning jewellery may have evolved from the impersonal memento mori jewellery that had been used in the past. Memento mori ( 'Be mindful of death') is the term for the inclusion of a symbol of death into the design of an art object or jewel as a reminder of life's transience. Such jewellery was found all over Europe, with skulls, skeletons and coffins used to ornament rings and pendants. The Torre Abbey jewel of 1540-1550 (museum no. 3581-1856) is an example of such a pendant.

By the mid 17th century mourning jewellery commemorating the death of a specific person, using the same symbols, was becoming more common. Later jewellery used sentimental motifs such as a woman weeping at a tomb or a broken column to express sorrow and loss. By the early 19th century, mourning had become an elaborate ritual, with specific clothing and social behaviour required for a particular length of time.