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Piece of the Week: A Haunting Piece of Mourning Jewelry
The pendant, circa the late 1700s, likely was commissioned to remember a loved one who died young.
Halloween is the time of year to celebrate all things macabre and there is nothing darker and more haunting than an antique piece of mourning jewelry.
This pendant, circa the late 1700s, has a low-karat gold frame surrounding a sepia ink depiction of an urn resting atop a pillar that reads, “Safe will I keep these dear remains.”
On the right side of the image a woman is resting her arm on the pillar, while the left side shows an angel cutting a rose, a reference to the idiom, “nip’d in the bud.”
An oval-shaped piece of bone serves as the canvas for this piece of mourning jewelry.
It’s likely this pendant was commissioned after the death of a young person because of the symbolism stemming from the rose, which was cut before it had the chance to fully grow, KIL N.Y.C. CEO Konstantinos I. Leoussis explained in an email to National Jeweler.
The antique piece, which originally was a clasp before being turned into a pendant, comes from the Georgian era, when mourning jewelry was common.
Pieces were created as tributes to deceased loved ones as a way to honor their memory and cushion the loss.
Urns were often depicted in these pieces as a symbol of the soul’s departure from the body. Skulls and weeping willows were frequently seen in mourning jewelry as well.
Portraits typically were painted on ivory or enamel and encased in silver or gold, like this pendant, and occasionally surrounded by pearls to symbolize tears.
In the Victorian period, human hair was incorporated into mourning jewelry as a way to hold on to a physical piece of the deceased while symbols were used less, replaced by portraits of the deceased.
This mourning pendant is available for $1,800 at KIL N.Y.C.
To view more antique mourning jewelry, visit KIL N.Y.C.’s website.
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This pendant, circa the late 1700s, has a low-karat gold frame surrounding a sepia ink depiction of an urn resting atop a pillar that reads, “Safe will I keep these dear remains.”
On the right side of the image a woman is resting her arm on the pillar, while the left side shows an angel cutting a rose, a reference to the idiom, “nip’d in the bud.”
An oval-shaped piece of bone serves as the canvas for this piece of mourning jewelry.
It’s likely this pendant was commissioned after the death of a young person because of the symbolism stemming from the rose, which was cut before it had the chance to fully grow, KIL N.Y.C. CEO Konstantinos I. Leoussis explained in an email to National Jeweler.
The antique piece, which originally was a clasp before being turned into a pendant, comes from the Georgian era, when mourning jewelry was common.
Pieces were created as tributes to deceased loved ones as a way to honor their memory and cushion the loss.
Urns were often depicted in these pieces as a symbol of the soul’s departure from the body. Skulls and weeping willows were frequently seen in mourning jewelry as well.
Portraits typically were painted on ivory or enamel and encased in silver or gold, like this pendant, and occasionally surrounded by pearls to symbolize tears.
In the Victorian period, human hair was incorporated into mourning jewelry as a way to hold on to a physical piece of the deceased while symbols were used less, replaced by portraits of the deceased.
This mourning pendant is available for $1,800 at KIL N.Y.C.
To view more antique mourning jewelry, visit KIL N.Y.C.’s website.
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