Something of You Remains

Georgian Mourning Brooch Made of Gold, Enamel, Hair & Glass Pastes, ca. 1790

€ 1,980.00 ^*

Content 1 piece

Unit price €1,980.00 / piece

Incl. VAT, Shipping

Georgian Mourning Brooch Made of Gold, Enamel, Hair & Glass Pastes, ca. 1790

Description

This description was automatically translated from German. If you have any questions about this piece of jewellery, we will be happy to help!

In past centuries, death was still omnipresent. Life expectancy was low and the confrontation with an early demise was as present as it was unavoidable. Jewellery had a deep symbolic meaning in this context. Its special role in the area of death, mourning and commemoration can be traced back to the earliest times. A multitude of rules and norms of behaviour were intended to ease the grief of the bereaved and to satisfy society's standards of decency. According to the degree of kinship, mourning times were meticulously determined during which special clothing was to be worn. The mourning clothes also included specially made jewellery whose forms and symbolic contents changed over the centuries. Here we see a brooch from around 1790, which shows an inlay of human hair in a frame of blue enamel. Superimposed on the weave of hair is an intricately sawn cartouche of red gold showing an urn in an oval frame. This urn, which has always been a symbol of mourning, distinguishes this piece of jewellery from similarly designed friendship gifts of those years and clearly identifies it as a piece of mourning jewellery. An impressive framing of glass pastes surrounds the blue enamel rim with soft sparkle. Elaborately faceted and backed with foil, the glass stones were given the same treatment as the diamond, which was much rarer at the time. Here, the glass pastes were set just like diamonds, in pinched settings (so-called "collet settings") of silver. The darkening of the silver was already taken into account, because this makes the stones shine even brighter in contrast. The back of the brooch is covered with red gold so that the silver does not rub off on skin or clothing. Like the diamonds of their time, the glass pastes were also cut in a cushion shape. The flat calette that characterizes the old diamond cut was accentuated by a black dot. This is also referred to as "black dot paste". In this way, the stones wrap around the jewellery with a brilliant shine. The brooch from the reign of George III found to us in London and is beautifully preserved.

Size & Details

Something of You Remains

€ 1,980.00 ^*

Content 1 piece

Unit price €1,980.00 / piece

Incl. VAT, Shipping

Our Promise

We want you to be 100% satisfied! For that reason, we examine, describe and photograph all of our jewellery with the utmost care.

You can rely on our years of experience in the trade and our expertise as a professional art historians for reviews of the antique jewellery. As a member of various trade organisations and the British Society of Jewellery Historians, we remain committed to the highest possible degree of accuracy. In our descriptions, we always also indicate any signs of age and defects and never hide them in our photos – this saves you from any unpleasant surprises when your package arrives.

Should you for some reason not be satisfied, please don’t hesitate to contact us so that we can find a solution together. In any case, you can return any article within one month and we will refund the full purchase price.

Learn more

Something of You Remains

Pendants

Privacy settings