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. Many mourning jewels have inscriptions that record the name and dates of the dead person.

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, gold wire, set with seed pearls and hair, ivory painted in watercolour
Brief description
Gold locket,ivory painted in watercolour, embellished with gold wire and pearl, seed pearls on hair, England, 1775-1800
Physical description
Gold locket or brooch enclosing a miniature painted in watercolour on ivory, embellished with gold wire and pearls, of a woman by a tomb inscribed Rest in Peace with a Cherub above. At the back, the initials ER in seed pearls on hair
Dimensions
  • Height: 5.4cm
  • Width: 3.6cm
  • Depth: 1.3cm
Marks and inscriptions
  • inscribed Rest in Peace
  • the initials ER (At the back)
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. Many mourning jewels have inscriptions that record the name and dates of the dead person.

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
925-1888

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Record createdApril 6, 2006
Record URL
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