In case you ignore the rule, the chain may get worn off and broken. The pendant shouldn’t weight more than the chain, the correlation can be maximum 1:1. That’s why jewelers advise starting choosing a pendant with buying a chain. Reconciling with the prospect of mortality is thought to ease the pain of grief.Īlthough pendants and necklaces are considered «independent» jewelry, beautiful without adding anything, you still need a chain, a string or a necklet for wearing them. Skulls are the most obvious symbol of death, thought to force the mourner and everyone around them to come to terms with their own mortality. ![]() Skull and crossbones and winged skulls were commonly used in memento mori throughout the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries. The beauty of mourning jewelry is once you hang your mourning outfit up, you can continue to wear your memento mori or mourning jewelry indefinitely. It was a way to keep your beloved close to you and is growing in popularity in modern times. The I Change Only in Death wax seal pendant includes a laurel leaf and a French phrase that translates to "I do not change that by dying." A century ago, all mourning outfits included at least one piece of mourning jewelry. The symbolic Laurel Leaf is another beautiful symbol used as part memento mori jewelry. The Forget Me Not Memorial Necklace used a Forget Me Not flower as an emblem for loving remembrance. Flowers are another nature related symbol commonly used in memento mori jewelry. The Endure - I Will Go On wax seal pendant signifies a loss using a running stag with an arrow in his hind quarter. Animals are commonly used as symbols in memento mori jewelry pieces. ![]() Although today, this type of morbid symbolism may seem macabre, it was a common part of grieving during Victorian times.ĭuring times of mourning, we reflect on nature, the brevity of life and all things in it. Traditional memento mori jewelry depicts death through the use of skulls, worms, skeletons, coffins, and other common symbols of death. However, modern artists have continued to explore this genre. The term originally comes from the opening lines of the Book of Ecclesiastes in the Bible: ‘Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities, all is vanity.’ The vanitas and memento mori picture became popular in the seventeenth century, in a religious age when almost everyone believed that life on earth was merely a preparation for an afterlife. In addition to the symbols of mortality these may include other symbols such as musical instruments, wine and books to remind us explicitly of the vanity (in the sense of worthlessness) of worldly pleasures and goods. Closely related to the memento mori picture is the vanitas still life. ![]() A basic memento mori painting would be a portrait with a skull but other symbols commonly found are hour glasses or clocks, extinguished or guttering candles, fruit, and flowers. Memento Mori Fede Ring c.1526-1575.Memento mori is a Latin phrase meaning ‘remember you must die’. The tradition flourished in the eighteenth century but the name of the individual being memorialized became more prominent, the mourning motifs became somewhat less gruesome and the use of intricate hairwork and elaborate allegories were de rigueur. In the mid-seventeenth century, the theme merged with memorial jewelry and it became popular to have the hair of the departed person, along with relevant dates and initials worked into the piece alongside the skull, coffin symbols and message. ![]() Often these were just plain bands engraved with a sentiment referencing the departed (sometimes specifically outlined in the will.) Money was left for the purpose of creating the rings along with a specified list of mourners. The sixteenth century saw an increase in bequests for mourning rings. Rings were the most common form of memento mori jewels although they could also take the form of lockets, pendants, and brooches. Composed in Latin, French or English they were either engraved or enameled on the outside of a jewel or secretly on the inside, viewable only by the intended recipient. An important part of the memento mori jewel was the use of text to express thoughts of death, mortality, remembrance, and religion. Skulls, skeletons, and coffins, often worked in gold and enamel were the predominant motifs vividly illustrating the underlying sentiment of pending mortality. Translation from Latin, “remember you must die,” is very clearly indicative of the objective of the theme. Memento mori jewelry is the name given to sixteenth through eighteenth-century jewelry that was created as a reminder of the inevitability of death and the need to live piously. Sixteenth Century French Memento Mori Pendant.
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