The Tradition of Anglo-American mourning jewelry
In Death Lamented
Updated August 08, 2024
Jewellery serves many more purposes than just being pretty, and that is what I love about it. One of those purposes is to accompany its wearers through major events – like dealing with the death of a loved one. In Death Lamented by Sarah Nehama presents an overview of mourning jewellery in the Anglo-American world.
In Death Lamented: the exhibition and the book
In Death Lamented is the companion volume with the exhibition of the same name, held in 2012 in Massachusetts. And oh, would I have loved to see that! Instead, I am super lucky to now own the book, and I love it. Because, as Sarah writes in her introduction, she approaches this jewellery from a historical perspective – and you know that is what makes me tick, too!
The book showcases the collection of the Massachusetts Historical Society alongside the private collection of Sarah herself. Together, they illustrate the development of mourning jewellery over time.
Mourning jewellery across centuries
In Death Lamented presents an overview of mourning jewellery from the 17th century to the late 19th century. As the title says, its focus is on Anglo-American jewellery, and as such this is the historical perspective as well.
That overview starts out in the 15th and 16th centuries. In this timeframe, jewellery with a memento mori-theme (‘remember you must die’) was created to remind the wearer of their own mortality. Actual mourning jewellery, so in remembrance of a loved one, also existed during this period.
The popularity of mourning jewellery took off when the English King Charles I was executed – mourning his death became an act of resistance among his supporters and jewellery became a secret token of allyship. The book shows a few of these pieces, and describes how these customs crossed the Atlantic to continue to flourish there.
Mourning jewellery in colonial America
The next chapter explores mourning jewellery in 17th and 18th century, mostly in the New World. A completely new practice, at least for me, was handing out mourning rings at funerals – apparently, attending as many funerals as possible and collecting these almost like souvenirs [p. 23] was quite the rage!
This chapter discusses the evolving stylistic elements of mourning jewellery, including the incorporation of hair. That is a topic I particularly love, as hair has very strong personal and ritual capacities in so many cultures. The catalogue with this chapter illustrates those evolving styles: with each piece of jewellery, an elaborate description places the jewel in its cultural context and presents what is known about the persons they commemorate: I loved reading this little personal histories.
Mourning jewellery of the New Republic
The story of mourning jewellery then continues in the late 18th and 19th century. Here, we see the imagery change, reflecting changes in funerary customs as well. [p. 42] I found it fascinating to read how the visual language of the Classical world made an appearance in mourning women, silent urns and weeping willows [p. 42] and how the visual codes changed from skulls and bones to more hopeful symbols.
This transition is also abundantly shown in the catalogue with this part: here as well, personal histories of the persons remembered intertwine with political history. I learned that the death of George Washington spurred another flurry of mourning jewellery, illustrated by a locket holding a few of his hairs.
Mourning jewellery before the Civil War
In the 19th century, archaeological revival styles became fashionable and left their mark on mourning jewellery as well. Increasingly, medieval (notably Gothic) and Etruscan styles became popular. The language of particular materials such as pearls or diamonds was reinforced by the language of flowers, a development I also read about in this book on Lover’s Eyes jewellery.
Following the death of Prince Albert, Queen Victoria famously went into heavy mourning that set off an entire industry of jet jewellery. This was picked up upon on the other side of the Atlantic as well, and jet and hair jewellery became very, very popular. And of course, there was a new invention that added another layer to the intensity of mourning jewellery: photography.
Mourning jewellery from the Civil War to the end of the 19th century
The book concludes with the surge in mourning jewellery as a result of the Civil War, the death of Prince Albert and the murder of Abraham Lincoln. It also discusses how mourning jewellery came to an end: hairworks became to be perceived as ‘unsanitary’, life circumstances improved in general, and ostentatiously showing loss and grief became less socially acceptable.
In Death Lamented: a wonderful overview of mourning jewellery
It’s safe to say I have learned again a great deal in reading this book. I loved how the author places jewellery against its historical and cultural background and explains how styles evolved, symbolism changed and mourning jewellery continued to take on new meanings. The many photographs are large, clear and very insightful.
The descriptions of the jewellery are also consistent and precise. Especially with objects that carry text, it really helps to know what the original, surviving text is, and where individual letters or numbers have been reconstructed. This, along with the guidelines for measurements given, is explained in the editorial note at the beginning of the book.
This is absolutely a book you will love – whether you’re studying, selling or just are interested in this particular type of jewellery!
More about In Death Lamented
In Death Lamented. The Tradition of Anglo-American Mourning Jewelry. By Sarah Nehama (2012). 128 pages, full-colour, in English. Published by University of Virginia Press.
Available with the publisher and the Massachusetts Historical Society
See more about Sarah’s research on mourning jewellery here!
I purchased the book directly from Sarah.
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S. van Roode, [write the title as you see it above this post], published on the Bedouin Silver website [paste the exact link to this article], accessed on [the date you are reading this article and decided it was useful for you].
Sigrid van Roode
Sigrid van Roode is an archeologist, ethnographer and jewellery historian. Her main field of expertise is jewellery from North Africa and Southwest Asia, as well as archaeological and archaeological revival jewellery. She has authored several books on jewellery, and obtained her PhD at Leiden University on the jewellery of the Egyptian zar-ritual. Sigrid has lectured for the National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden, Turquoise Mountain Jordan, and many others. She provides consultancy and research on jewellery collections for both museums and private collections, teaches courses and curates exhibitions. She is not involved in the business of buying and selling jewellery, and focuses on research, knowledge production, and education only.