Necklace
c. 1775–95
Maker Unknown
Decorative Art and Design
Necklace, c. 1775–95. England or France. Gold, silver and brilliants; part 1: 29.6 cm (11 5/8 in.); part 2: 12.1 cm (4 3/4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Mrs. Severance A. Millikin 1964.35 Throughout the 1700s, the growing trade for personal luxury objects transformed the material culture surrounding marriage and courtship. Gifts such as perfume, sheet music, books, textiles, portrait miniatures, and jewelry often demonstrated the status of the gift giver and their investment in the relationship. While intended to be seen and admired, this glittering and ostentatious necklace disguised a system based on the labor and suffering of enslaved or indentured people, whether in gold and stone mines or the shop where it was made. This type of necklace, with its single large pendant, is known as a lavalier and was popular among aristocratic women during the 1700s. Queen Charlotte, wife of George III, was known to have several necklaces of this type.
- Maker/Artist
- Maker Unknown
- Classification
- Jewelry
- Formatted Medium
- gold, silver and brilliants
- Medium
- gold, silver, brilliants
- Dimensions
- Part 1: 29.6 cm (11 5/8 in.); Part 2: 12.1 cm (4 3/4 in.)
- Departments
- Decorative Art and Design
- Accession Number
- 1964.35
- Credit Line
- Gift of Mrs. Severance A. Millikin
- Exhibitions
- Year in Review (1964), Wow Factor: 150 Years of Collecting Bold Clothes, British Gallery Reinstallation (June 2020), Western Reserve Historical Society, Cleveland, OH (4/28/2017 – 4/22/2018): "Wow Factor: 150 Years of Collecting Bold Clothes"
- Rights Statement
- CC0
- Museum Location
- 203B British Painting and Decorative Arts
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