Images(11)

Mourning Bracelets

Date1780

OriginEngland

MediumGold, enamel, hair, glass, seed pearls

DimensionsOL: 7 in.

Credit LineMuseum Purchase, The Friends of Colonial Williamsburg Collections Fund

Object number2018-199,1&2

DescriptionPair of English mourning bracelets, each with gold box clasp and ten strands of pearls. Each clasp of oval shape with frame of pale blue enamel and gold flowers surrounding a central reserve of plaited white hair behind slightly convex glass. The reverse of one clasp engraved in script: “Revd / Cuthbt Allanson D. D. / died 3d June / 1780 / Aged 54”.
Label TextPortraits and prints reveal the fashion of wearing pairs of bracelets in the late eighteenth century. These beautiful gold, enamel, and seed pearl bracelets each bear a central reserve of handsomely plaited white hair, presumably that of the Reverend Dr. Cuthbert Allanson. The reverse of one clasp is engraved to indicate that Dr. Allanson died on June 3rd, 1780, at the age of fifty-four. Dr. Allanson was appointed Chaplain to the House of Commons in 1776 and served in that post until his death in 1780.
InscribedThe reverse of one clasp engraved in script: “Revd / Cuthbt Allanson D. D. / died 3d June / 1780 / Aged 54”.