Funeral jewelry
Mourning jewelry is jewelry with the iconographic emphasis on death and mourning symbols scenes, the functional with the grief is connected to the memory of the dead, and the own mortality.
development
In addition to its decorative function and material value, jewelry has always had a symbolic layer of meaning. Just think of the wedding ring . Until early times, a special role of jewelry can also be proven in the area of death, mourning and remembrance. For example, jewelry has been handed down as grave goods from most of the early cultures. In the Egyptian cult of the dead it was mainly rings that were given to the deceased as amulets or lucky charms for the realm of the underworld .
The custom of removing jewelry in bereavement is known from Roman antiquity .
In the 16th century, memorial jewelry emerged as a separate type of jewelry in Europe and particularly in England. In the context of the changed attitude to death in the post- medieval period, the topos expanded , which was now related to death and mourning in form and iconography, and later also in the use of certain materials.
Following on from the symbolism of transience in the late Middle Ages, this jewelry was initially decorated with motifs of skulls, coffins or crossed bones.
Memorial rings
The custom of the commemorative ring has been practiced in England since the 14th century. For this purpose the deceased possessed testamentarisch that a high circulation often has been distributed to rings as mementos of the funeral participants. For the expansion of this peculiar custom in the late 16th and especially in the 17th century, two factors primarily play a decisive role. On the one hand, the funeral liturgy changed with the Reformation . With the abandonment of the intercessory burial rites of the Catholic Church , the design of the funerals took on more and more secular features. The desire for a personal memory foundation assumed an increasingly important role. And secondly: due to the early development of a broad, affluent bourgeoisie , the commercialization of the funeral culture increased rapidly from the end of the 17th century. The commemorative rings are to be seen in the context of these two factors - prestigious objects belonging to wealthy circles, whose increasingly standardized character as a commodity can be seen in the high numbers alone.
Such rings were initially with designs of skull bones and as Christian - instructional memento mori provided. In the course of the 18th century, the iconographic program changed in favor of urns , pillars , obelisks , etc. Occasionally, the simple wish for memory was articulated on the ring plate with a lettering. (e.g. REMEMBER ME)
Hardly any sources have come down to us that explain the rules of conduct regarding giving away and wearing such jewelry more precisely. However, from the famous diary of Samuel Pepys , we learn that the rings were distributed in the mourning house within a few days of death.
The small diameter of the ring bands often found in these memorial rings suggests that they were explicitly intended for women. A multitude of such rings worn on a collar, bangle or on the finger was able to underline the social rank of the wearer and her husband.
When Pepys died in 1703, he too had last willed that 128 rings should be distributed to friends and acquaintances as mementos at his funeral service. The total price of the rings was over £ 100. These rings were divided into three price groups depending on the rank of the recipient and the degree of personal attachment.
The loss of exclusivity resulting from the increasingly inflationary use of the rings in the 18th century probably caused them to go out of fashion among the upper classes and thus heralded the end of this custom. The custom was so naturalized in the English burial culture of the 18th century that now it was expressly stated in wills that no rings should be distributed.
Hair accessories
A particularly intimate form of remembrance is mourning jewelry made of hair. Keeping the hair of a deceased person became a popular custom among the nobility and the bourgeoisie with the cult of feeling at the end of the 18th century. Pars pro toto , hair, incorporated into rings, medallions or brooches, represented the whole person. On the one hand, the idea of the magical power that has long been attributed to hair in religion, popular belief and magic lives on; on the other hand, the tradition of the relic also has an effect . It was important that the hair came from living humans.
For the bereaved, the jewelry made of hair meant a precious haptic presence of the deceased, which could be experienced "up close". The spectrum of hair work in mourning jewelry of the 18th and 19th centuries Century ranges from curls in wave form to artistic hair pictures with tomb images under mourning trees. It was used as a substrate for ornaments on brooches or rings, or it was used to braid and lace whole chains, bracelets, brooches and rings.
In order to preserve the personal relationship, hair was often processed by oneself, for which there were written instructions for private use. In the monasteries , too, private hair was processed in the tradition of baroque monastery work. Up until the twenties of the last century, hairdressers in some areas had to do hair work according to old models in addition to other skills during their master’s exams.
Black jewelry
In the 18th / 19th In the 19th century, the monarchies exerted an influence on the public that is barely comprehensible today. The court was considered a fixed point in society to which one orientated. So the mostly rigid court mourning often became a general obligation. The close family ties of the European royal houses meant that court mourning was a recurring ritual, with the “court mourning announcement” describing in detail how the members of the court had to dress.
Occasionally a whole people were asked to mourn, like the English in 1827 after the death of the Duke of York .
The severe court and state mourning ordered by Queen Victoria on the death of Prince Consort Albert in 1861 led to a considerable increase in the need for mourning accessories and to the spread of such jewelry even among less affluent circles. The fashion magazines of the late 19th century propagated this development and established a new aspect of jewelry; the costume jewelry .
This jewelry was no longer memorial jewelry that kept the memory of the dead alive and could therefore be worn beyond the actual mourning period.
Since the beginning of the 19th century, Jett has been mentioned repeatedly as mourning jewelry . It seems that Jett was worn in the courts in particular. Occasionally, however, Jett can also be found outside of mourning and the court. Jett is understood to mean "wood that has decomposed in digested sludge and has turned into bituminous coal". As an alternative to the fashionable but expensive and fragile jet, black jewelry was also made from glass , enamel , black (swamp oak) or blackened wood, onyx , and later also from ebonite and bakelite . Jett probably came into fashion at the time of classicism because jewelry had been made from it in ancient times.
graduation
The development from funeral and memorial jewelry to costume jewelry finally marks the end of a long tradition; the line between mourning and costume jewelry had become fluid. The inexpensive industrial production allowed a de-individualization. In addition, the funeral rites and times of mourning changed. They were no longer meticulously observed in the big cities. They found a distant relationship to death and no longer wanted to portray their pain so openly and sentimentally.
See also: Vanitas
literature
- Wolfgang Neumann (Red.): Funeral jewelry from baroque to art deco. "... with black jewelry or with pearls" . Published by the Central Institute and Museum for Sepulchral Culture. Arbeitsgemeinschaft Friedhof und Denkmal, Kassel 1995, ISBN 3-924447-10-1 (exhibition catalog: Kassel, Museum für Sepulkralkultur, October 14, 1995 to January 21, 1996).