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. Hair was preserved as curls within the locket or cut up and used to create designs.
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. Hair was preserved as curls within the locket or cut up and used to create designs.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Materials and techniques | Gold set, blue enamel with seed pearls with ivory painted with watercolour |
| Brief description | Gold locket, blue enamel set with seed pearls, ivory painted in watercolours, England, 1775-1800 |
| Physical description | Gold bracelet clasp converted into a locket composed of a frame set with seed pearls, ivory painted in watercolours of a woman with a dove and a crane mounted on an enamelled blue ground embellished with seed pearls. |
| Dimensions |
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| 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. Hair was preserved as curls within the locket or cut up and used to create designs. |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | 923-1888 |
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| Record created | August 22, 2006 |
| Record URL |
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