Featured Hair Mourning Brooch

Thankyou Lecollectioneur.
So in your experience are they usually hand coloured photos?. How would I know if it's a photo or a painting?.

 

Well spotted!

 

That's a good point Bronwen!. I feel happier about it now

 

It depends on the age and the quality. Pre-1860 photographs were not widely available, so portraits were painted. That cost money, so during that period you see the more expensive jewellery, often gold and gemstones.
Post-1860, photographs were available to a broader public, so more people could have portrait jewellery. So that is when the cheaper materials came on the scene, silver and paste, alongside the expensive ones.

 

If you can make a picture as good as the first one with the hairs it helps a lot, if you use a manual focus be very precise to make the point of focus on the picture and not on the glass. In my opinion, looking at all the medallion it's a colored photography.
The painted miniatures form the same period I have seen were on ivory and in more expensive mounts.

 

You know, the word 'brooch' didn't even register with me? I probably just thought "antique bling" and rushed into the thread.
But it is a pendant.

 

Lol, sorry, it was late at night!

 

I've made some pictures of memento mori to show you how they are differences from love remembrance.
First picture is on a toothpick ivory box which seems to be a little particular now, the second one is on a normal painted portrait.




You can see more pictures on that link.

 

Lecollectioneur, they are fabulous. The craftsmanship that's gone into the lower piece is amazing. Just beautiful.

 

It was a job to make things with hairs in the past centuries, stopped about around 1930 in Europa(the last things professionally made I've seen were coming from this period).
The latest I've seen were swiss and french from the 30's in oval frames, hairs were used to make flowers, foliage and letters for the names, sometimes with many names from members of the family made with their hairs in complicated graphism.
I've the book ISBN about hair works, it's 2-9501122-1-8 and the front page.

 

I've been told my great-grandfather, who was a coiffeur (French was used to distinguish from 'just' a hairdresser ), made tiny hair landscapes with weeping willows etc for those oval frames. I have never seen one, they all went to the deceased's families, of course.

 

Like that ?

I'm working on websites, then it's a good shift to answer on the forum…

 

Possibly. He was also appointed to the royal family, and was called whenever they visited the south or neighbouring Belgium.
And he did make-up (for women and men) and sold perfumes and accessories. I still have a Lalique bottle from his shop, and some Bohemian glass trinkets. He also wore make-up himself btw, a bit of a dandy.
I'm sure I get my taste for bling from his side of the family, his daughter -my grandmother- was the same.

Good luck! Will you post them when ready?

 

@Lecollectionneur have you seen that site:
Art of Mourning | A resource for mourning, memorial, sentimental jewellery and art https://artofmourning.com/?doing_wp_cron=1543690033.4005329608917236328125

Lots of pages and references for hair works

 

Thanks, it's very interesting especially the page on the color for those items : https://artofmourning.com/2018/12/18/colour-theory-part-1/

@ Any Jewelry
My websites are a long way from antiques, mechanical things, vegetables cultivated in respect of nature etc…

 

@Lecollectionneur Edit your post above & close the space between '@' & 'Any' if you want the tag to work.

 

My radar picked it up anyway.

@Lecollectionneur , with your 'eye', I'm sure the websites come out looking like art.