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- Description:
- This interesting brooch combines styles popular in the 1850s and 1860s, namely the bow know form with the dead gold metal (bright yellow metal that is produced without a sheen) and Etruscan filigree (delicate dots of gold that imitates Etruscan filigree decoration) that were popular primarily from the 1830s on.Etruscan filigree, really granulated drops of gold, was revived by Giulio Castellani of Britain who learned of the work from a scholar studying the ancients.He popularized the Etruscan revival style and it was seen on jewelry until the 1880s.This piece is nice, but not finely worked.The interlocking circles, circular Etruscan filigree decoration on the metal surfaces of the brooch, and the hair in the back of the pendant suggests that this is a mourning brooch.The interlocking components indicate lives entwined.The circles of the Etruscan filigree may suggest everlasting life, which is the symbolism of mourning wreaths.The hair in the back of the stone also suggests that this pin was used for mourning.
- Date Issued:
- [1855 TO 1865]
- Data Provider:
- Wayne State University. Libraries and The Henry Ford
- Collection:
- Digital Dress Collection
- Description:
- This style can be referred to as bowknot jewelry, and was popular from 1850-1870.The three small jump rings at the bottom of each piece may have been used to suspend small ball drops.
- Date Issued:
- [1860 TO 1875]
- Data Provider:
- Wayne State University. Libraries and The Henry Ford
- Collection:
- Digital Dress Collection
- Description:
- Queen Victoria of Great Britain adored the Scottish countryside and all things Scottish; she dressed her sons in highland dress and vacationed at Balmoral, her castle in Scotland.Scottish pebble jewelry was made from native stones (supposedly) from Scotland such as agate, chalcedony, carnelian, and bloodstone. These opaque stones were often set into silver that was rendered in the shape of ancient Scottish jewelry forms.Some quartz stones are carved in the shape of thistles, also associated with Scotland.These pieces were made until at least the 1870s and were considered pretty, if inexpensive, jewelry.
- Date Issued:
- [1845 TO 1875]
- Data Provider:
- Wayne State University. Libraries and The Henry Ford
- Collection:
- Digital Dress Collection
- Description:
- Sentimental brooch which incorporates a lock of hair of a loved one.The inclusion of black enamel around the hair indicates that the loved one was likely deceased."MBL" may be the initials of the deceased.Half mourning called for jewelry that was not flashy or showed too much shiny gold metal, so many pieces used in half mourning include dark stones or enamel.This was likely made simultaneously with the plaited hair jewelry popular in the 1850s and 1860s.
- Date Issued:
- [1850 TO 1860]
- Data Provider:
- Wayne State University. Libraries and The Henry Ford
- Collection:
- Digital Dress Collection
- Description:
- Coral was a popular material in jewelry making for many years.This particular piece incorporates coral with fairly inexpensive gold plated silver.Bigger brooches and long earrings were popular in the second half of the 19th century, until they fell out of favor because they could easily rip the lace collars and bodices that became popular in the 1880's.
- Date Issued:
- [1845 TO 1895]
- Data Provider:
- Wayne State University. Libraries and The Henry Ford
- Collection:
- Digital Dress Collection
- Description:
- Bog wood is petrified wood, usually oak or pine, found in Irish bogs. It was carved into trinkets and jewelry in the mid-late nineteenth century.Because of its association with Ireland the jewelry often includes Celtic or early Irish Christian references.Bog wood jewelry was shown at most of the exhibitions of the nineteenth century. This piece is part of a large collection given to the institution by Susan Stark of Lansing, MI.
- Date Issued:
- [1850 TO 1880]
- Data Provider:
- Wayne State University. Libraries and The Henry Ford
- Collection:
- Digital Dress Collection
- Description:
- This may have been used in mourning and may memorialize the gentleman depicted on the brooch.Earlier mourning brooches included watercolors of likenesses of the deceased but daguerreotypoes, our first real photographs, records the extraordinary image of the deceased.The bit of hair on the back of the brooch may be the hair of the gentleman depicted but this cannot be verified.The curator has seen few brooches set with photographs, either daguerreotypes orthe later tintypes; this is a rare survival.
- Date Issued:
- [1840 TO 1860]
- Data Provider:
- Wayne State University. Libraries and The Henry Ford
- Collection:
- Digital Dress Collection
- Description:
- Tortoise shell was a much used material in small decorative accessories for many years.It is quite malleable when heated, and carefully chosen, the stock can have interesting color and mottling.In addition, it is easily carved and fine patterns can be created from it.Pique work infuses gold into the soft tortoiseshell, very much like inlay.Pique pose lays strips of gold in the surface and pique point, which this piece includes, has fine rods of gold embedded in it.Fine pique work was created in Europe and was popular in the nineteenth century; however, by the 1860s cheaper examples were made in America and in the 1870s Britain.This piece appears to date from the 1860s or early 1870s and, while nice, is not of the quality of some fine earlier pieces in the collection.The presence of the ancient's face on a carved amphora, and its central medallion shape, indicates an 1860's piece.
- Date Issued:
- [1845 TO 1895]
- Data Provider:
- Wayne State University. Libraries and The Henry Ford
- Collection:
- Digital Dress Collection
- Description:
- It is possible that this was used in mourning as it is without sheen, is colorless and is a wreath, a symbol generally associated with mourning and everlasting life in the mid nineteenth century.Furthermore the forget-me-nots scattered throughout the piece are often found on mourning jewelry.A curator from the Bennington Museum in Vermont stated (1964) that this was likely to be a British piece based on the configuration of specifics of the flowers--perhaps Minton.Parian porcelain jewelry was rather popular at mid-century; however, it is astonishingly fragile and very few pieces have survived.This is a rare survival and is one of two parian porcelain brooches in the collection at The Henry Ford.
- Date Issued:
- [1825 TO 1875]
- Data Provider:
- Wayne State University. Libraries and The Henry Ford
- Collection:
- Digital Dress Collection