Chatelaine
ca. 1863 - ca. 1885 (made)
| Place of origin |
A chatelaine would have hung from a lady’s waist and was intended to be both decorative and practical. The small tools and accessories that might be incorporated included a watch, scissors, tweezers, magnifying glass, scent flask and miniature notebook or ivory writing tablet.
Cut steel was a fashionable material for jewellery, buttons, buckles, sword hilts and watch chains in the decades around 1800. They were made from brightly polished rivets, their ends faceted to imitate diamonds. Such pieces gave a grey but powerful glitter. Originally an English speciality, the production of cut steel had spread to other centres in Europe by the early 19th century.
Cut steel was a fashionable material for jewellery, buttons, buckles, sword hilts and watch chains in the decades around 1800. They were made from brightly polished rivets, their ends faceted to imitate diamonds. Such pieces gave a grey but powerful glitter. Originally an English speciality, the production of cut steel had spread to other centres in Europe by the early 19th century.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Parts | This object consists of 14 parts.
|
| Materials and techniques | Cut steel and ivory (African Loxodonta) |
| Brief description | Cut-steel chatelaine with attachments, England, circa 1863 - 1885 |
| Physical description | Chatelaine, cut steel, the hook-plate formed as a crowned monogram. |
| Dimensions |
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| Credit line | Pfungst Reavil Bequest |
| Object history | Gill MacGregor (see references) has identified the monogram and crown to be that used by Alexandra, Princess of Wales between 1863 and 1885. Thornhill & Co. of Bond Street, one of the foremost producers of chatelaines is the likely maker, but the chatelaine's ownership remains unclear despite the crowned cypher - at the Great Exhibition of 1851 Thornhill & Co. exhibited a chatelaine plaque which was a promotional piece in which they celebrated their royal patronage by adding the crowned initials of Victoria and Albert and the Prince of Wales' feathers. |
| Subjects depicted | |
| Summary | A chatelaine would have hung from a lady’s waist and was intended to be both decorative and practical. The small tools and accessories that might be incorporated included a watch, scissors, tweezers, magnifying glass, scent flask and miniature notebook or ivory writing tablet. Cut steel was a fashionable material for jewellery, buttons, buckles, sword hilts and watch chains in the decades around 1800. They were made from brightly polished rivets, their ends faceted to imitate diamonds. Such pieces gave a grey but powerful glitter. Originally an English speciality, the production of cut steel had spread to other centres in Europe by the early 19th century. |
| Bibliographic reference | Gill MacGregor 'Identifying and mounting a circa 1863 - 1902 monogrammed chatelaine in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London'. The Journal of Dress History, Volume 4, Issue 3, Autumn 2020, pp 72-101. |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | M.32:1 to 13-1969 |
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| Record created | January 20, 2003 |
| Record URL |
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