The Art of Morbid Anatomy

"The Art of Mourning" at Brooklyn's Morbid Anatomy Museum is in it's final weeks. For a taste of what's in store, check out this interview with museum founder Joanna Ebenstein, via Wisconsin Public Radio. While we highly recommend a visit to the museum, the interview offers a glimpse into their cabinets of curiosities for those unable to make the trip.

Victorian 14k gold and mother of pearl brooch/pendant with woven and applied hair. Available at Gray & Davis.

From the interview, we learned it's likely that the text on the brooch above was painted using a solution of dissolved hair. It's a slightly morbid, and very neat.

If you visit the Morbid Anatomy Museum in the next couple of weeks, be sure to check out our hair jewelry on display in the Museum's gift shop!

The Language of Flowers

We see a lot of nature-inspired design in antique jewelry history. In the early Victorian era, known as the Romantic Period, artists, writers and jewelers took their fondness for flowers a step further. They conceived a language of flowers, giving different blooms different meanings. A bouquet could send a whole message, with blossoms expressing a wealth of sentiment.

While floral meanings evolved slightly across the generations, and regional variations were common, a rose and forget-me-nots symbolizing love and enduring sentiment withstood the test of time, just as the color white remains a symbol of purity and innocence to this day.

Victorian French 18k gold pendant with plique-a-jour enamel, with a bouquet of roses and a forget-me-not border. At G&D.

Art Nouveau 14k gold pin with enamel. Krementz maker’s mark. At Gray & Davis.

The pendant has French hallmarks. The gold pin is stamped with the telltale double handle of Krementz Co. The Newark, NJ based jeweler started out making menswear, and branched into fine gold jewelry around the turn of the 20th century. This lovely piece was surely meant as a gift. The infinitely locked love knot in 14k yellow gold is decorated with forget-me-nots in blue and white enamel, which signified true and enduring love.

Of course, much was written about the language of flowers. Here are some works in the public domain that extensively describe your floral options and their meanings, all rife with romantic poetry for your reading pleasure, as well:

https://play.google.com/store/books/details/The_Language_of_Flowers?id=wMAOAQAAIAAJ

https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=2bCdaZ7KvDsC&rdid=book-2bCdaZ7KvDsC&rdot=1

Museum Monday: Portrait Miniatures at the Met

Having a miniature portrait keepsake of one’s beloved, be they paramour or monarch, became popular among the ruling class in the 16th century. As with all elite fashions, this trend trickled down the social hierarchy, so that by the 18th century, portrait miniatures were a fairly common gift until the invention of photography. Using paint or enamel, fine detail work was expressed on a variety of surfaces, such as vellum, copper, or ivory. These paintings could framed and hanged, decorate the lid of a small box, or be set into jewelry.

Hans Holbein, a making a return appearance to our blog, was one of the early miniature portrait painters, and you can view his work, along with several other fine examples, in the exhibition “In Miniature” at the Metropolitan Museum of Art through the end of December 2014. Some miniatures are displayed next to full size portraits of the same person, in order show the incredible detailed paid to the tiny faces in the miniatures. 

Victorian 18k gold and Swiss enamel dangling portrait earrings, at Gray & Davis.

Georgian portrait miniature pendant in 12k gold, at Gray & Davis.

We particularly love seeing enamel portraits set into earrings. When worn, the portraits should always face each other so that they can always keep their loved ones in sight!

For more information, visit: http://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/listings/2014/in-miniature

Friday Face: 17th Century Portrait Miniature

This handsome gentleman strutted his fine self around 17th century England.

12k gold, painted miniature. Painting c 1600s, frame c. 1700s

Though the miniature portrait and excellent wig sensibility date to the 1600s, the rosey gold setting was most likely manufactured in the 1700s. 

Available at our 47th street shop!

Friday Face: 19th Century Shell Cameo

This happy hero of ancient Greece is delighted to make your acquaintance.

Victorian shell cameo featuring profile of Greek soldier. Framed in 14k yellow gold and seed pearls, with baroque pearl dangle. Can be worn as brooch or pendant.