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Maker: Unknown (Probably)
Gold, with black enamel decorated with gilding, containing hair under glass. Rectangular brooch, with a gold outer frame that has round corners and raised cusped and scalloped edges, with, in the centre, a rectangular compartment containing inter-woven blonde hair under glass, mounted in a plain gold rub-over setting, surrounded by a foliated gold frame. Between the outer and inner frames, the flat area of the brooch is enamelled onto a copper alloy plate in a translucent dark blue enamel that optically appears opaque black, and bears a gilt flower head at one end, the gothic initials MD at the opposite end, and, on the two long sides, the gothic initials RD, DI? and J?N?, MT? respectively. The gold back-plate is engraved 'Matilda/Obit 17th Feby/1842'. Brooch-pin fastening on the back: silver alloy or nickel-silver catch-plate and hinge-plate with a copper alloy (probably copper) pin. The lower quality of the fastening and excess solder around the hinge-plate suggest the pin is a replacement or later addition. The hinge plate partly covers an indentation in the gold back-plate that may relate to an earlier fitting.
History note: The brooch belonged to Matilda Barnes (1829-1914), née Armstrong, who was born and brought up in Ireland but lived in England after her marriage to the donor's late husband's grandfather. The inscription does not refer to a member of the family.
Given by Mrs Stella Barnes
Length: 3.2 cm
Width: 2.6 cm
Method of acquisition: Given (2000-11-20) by Barnes, Stella F., Mrs
19th Century, Mid#
Production date:
circa
AD 1842
Decoration
composed of
enamel
( black)
gilt
Part
composed of
hair
glass
Ring
composed of
gold
Inscription present: Gothic lettering
Inscription present: Gothic lettering
Accession number: M.16-2000
Primary reference Number: 28453
Entry form number: 140
Stable URI
Owner or interested party:
The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department:
Applied Arts
This record can be cited in the Harvard Bibliographic style using the text below:
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IIIF Manifest
The Fitzwilliam Museum (2024) "Mourning brooch" Web page available at: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/28453 Accessed: 2024-12-23 00:44:58
To cite this record on Wikipedia you can use this code snippet:
{{cite web|url=https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/28453
|title=Mourning brooch
|author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-12-23 00:44:58|publisher=The
University of Cambridge}}
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https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/api/v1/objects/object-28453
To use this as a simple code embed, copy this string:
<div class="text-center">
<figure class="figure">
<img src="https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/aa/aa37/M_16_2000_1_201801_amt49_dc2.jpg"
alt="Mourning brooch"
class="img-fluid" />
<figcaption class="figure-caption text-info">Mourning brooch</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
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