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Memento
Mori (Latin
for "Remember thy Death") p.3 |
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| A Memorial Picture | |||||
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On the left is an item that we treasure. It is a 24" X 25" shadow box that contains the carte-de-visite photograph of a young woman surrounded by a wreath of wool flowers on gold wire. It is our understanding that these flowers were made by wrapping fine gold wire on knitting needles to make frames for colored wool. Some areas have been sheared to create a pom pom effect. We have seen memorial pictures made with human hair, wax, and feather flowers. We are glad that ours is made with wool. Most of the wax examples we have seen show the effects of melting and, even though we have hair mourning jewelry, the pictures made from it make us a bit uneasy. We received this from Beverly's mother who was a collector or Victoriana. We went for a visit early in our collecting and found the guest room had been furnished with an antique brass bed and dresser. This picture was hanging over the bed. It took us years to convince her that it really belonged in our collection. The back of the frame is covered with flowered wall paper and there is a hand written date from the 1880s, |
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A close up of some of the wool flowers. |
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| A Photographic Funerary Urn | |||||
We found this 14 1/2" tall glass vase with an inset glass photograph of a young woman in an antique shop. The mouth of the vase is fitted with a metal insert about 5" deep. We suspected that it was a funeral urn meant to hold ashes. The maroon paint on the inside of the glass is scratched and it is possible to see that there is brown material inside. We were relieved to find when we removed the insert that it was filled with paper. We later found two vases of identical style in the book The Painted Photograph by Heinz and Bridget Henisch. They carry the likenesses of an older couple and are described as funerary urns dating from the turn of the 20th century. Although our example might have once held the ashes of the lovely young woman pictured on it we suspect it may have been a sales sample that was never used.
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| Mourning Jewelry | |||||
We collect objects that have been embellished with photographs including several pieces of photographic jewelry. Although we know that these could be kept as a memento of a loved one, some of them could be objects of mourning. We have been told that the pin on the right is a mourning pin because of the black frame around the oval daguerreotype of a lovely, pensive young woman. The frame appears to be black enamel rather than jet since there are some chips on the edge that show metal under it. The daguerreotype is beautifully made with pink tinting on the face and gold accents on the knot shaped pin on her lace collar and her earrings. The literature about Victorian mourning dress always mentioned objects made from the hair of the departed loved one. This is a concept that causes some modern people distress although the practice of keeping a lock of babies hair from the first haircut is not unknown today. We have several locket and cased images that include hair. The most elaborate example in our collection is the bracelet shown below. A band of stiff braided hair is held together by a gold locket with a small daguerreotype of a young woman under an engraved cover. We have an identical locket containing a daguerreotype of a young man that is mounted on a black velvet ribbon choker. We do not know if this is a morning piece or just a keepsake of a beloved sister or daughter. |
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Memento Mori p.1: Daguerreotype,
Ambrotype, and Tintype Related interests of the Victorian Era in our collection: |
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Return to The Collection of Collections page Collection of Collections Site Map Contact us at studio@brightbytes.com **NOTE** All items on the Collection of Collections web site are in our private collection and are NOT for sale. From time to time duplicate items from our collection will be offered for sale in the Do You Remember This? shop on the GoAntiques cyber mall. Visit the Do You Remember This? inventory page for photographica and toaster related collectibles. Please feel free to write us if you want to chat or share information about areas we collect but we will NOT give appraisals. © Bright Bytes Studio - Do not use images without permission Updated on 9/2005 |
