A 9ct gold locket of exceptional decorative richness, the front featuring seed pearls arranged in the form of a forget-me-not flower, surrounded by black enamel worked with roses and further forget-me-nots, the back carrying floral chasing throughout. This is a piece where three distinct decorative techniques, pearl setting, enamel work and hand chasing, have been combined on a single locket with complete confidence.
The forget-me-not in seed pearls is the centrepiece, the flower rendered in three dimensions by the pearls, the black enamel ground making each pearl read with maximum clarity. Forget-me-nots in Victorian jewellery carried a single unambiguous meaning: remember me, do not forget. The black enamel surrounding them places this firmly in the mourning tradition, a locket made to hold something close and to carry a specific, personal memory.
Space for two keepsakes within. Original glass and one acrylic panel present.
Era: Victorian, c.1880
Hallmarks:
Unmarked, tests as 9ct gold front and back.
