Jewelry

The expression of love and friendship is universal in life as in death, and hair mementoes were not always mourning objects, as one may assume. Locks of hair or in plaited formations set in a jewel, most commonly in a ring or brooch, were often given as an expression of sentiment or fondness. Famously Abigail Adams, the wife of John Adams and later George Washington had a similar ring made to present to the political writer during the American Revolution Mercy Otis Warren to celebrate their friendship after a rift and estrangement.

Due to their symbolic meaning borders with seed pearls were favored for luxurious variants of sentimental jewelry. For centuries pearls conveyed deep-rooted and intimate messages of love and grief and symbolized purity, innocence and humility. By the late eighteenth century rings with this design were fashionable in both England and America.

The openwork hoop consists of two rounded wires which fork at the shoulders and are flattened to support the bezel. These flank an insert shaped like a pointed leaf. The rectangular bezel with rounded corners and curved to follow the line of the finger has a frame of densely set seed pearls. The central opening indicates that there would have been an insert with hair maybe with miniature initials in gold or a scene under crystal. The bezel insert is missing, but the ring is otherwise in good condition.

Literature:

For the above mentioned John and Abigail Adams ring, see: Sarah Nehama, 'In Death Lamented', pp. 96-7.  For an example of a memorial ring with diamond-studded hair panel and seed pearl borders dated 1786, cf. Scarisbrick 1993, p. 186 and cf. also '….mit schwarzem Schmucke oder mit Perlen' Trauerschmuck vom Barock bis zum Art Deco', Museum für Sepulkralkultur, Kassel 1995, cat. nos. 29 and 85. 

R-531