- Museum number
- 1978,1002.1160
- Description
-
Double cravat-pin in gold with the two pins joined by closed-link chain, each surmounted by snake, decorated with blue enamel and set with diamond eyes framing a swivel medal struck in gold. On one pin is a double portrait of Queen Victoria and the Prince Consort. On the other pin a head of the infant Prince of Wales beneath the Prince of Wales's feathers. Inscriptions are on the reverse of the pins.
- Production date
- 1843 (circa)
- Dimensions
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Height: 8.45 centimetres
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Height: 9.10 centimetres
- $Inscriptions
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- Curator's comments
- Text from catalogue of the Hull Grundy Gift (Gere et al 1984) no 362:
Made to commemorate the christening of the Prince of Wales in 1843. it is rare to find a double cravat-pin of such high quality. A similar double cravat-pin is worn by the novelist Charles Dickens in the portrait by Daniel Maclise of 1839 in the National Portrait Gallery (NPG1172; Ormond 1973 1, pp. 139-40). (Charlotte Gere)
See also C. Gere & J. Rudoe, 'Jewellery in the Age of Queen Victoria: A Mirror to the World', London, British Museum, 2010, fig. 93F, p.134. . Caption: ‘Group of twelve stick-pins, mainly sporting and commemorative.’
At this date Rundell, Bridge & Company, 32, Ludgate Hill, were still jewellers to the Crown, a position they were to surrender in 1844. The medallist responsible for the miniature medallions, of the Queen and Prince Albert and the infant Prince with the Prince of Wales feathers, is unidentified. The most familiar double portrait designed by William Wyon in 1850, with Queen Victoria’s profile superimposed on the profile of Prince Albert, was first used for the prize medals at the 1851 Great Exhibition. Miniature medallion profile portraits in relief were frequently used for Victorian royal souvenirs of important occasions. For the wedding of the Queen and Prince Albert rings with their conjoined portraits rimmed in blue enamel surmounted by a turquoise-set forget-me-not (see Treasures and Trinkets, Museum of London, 1991, cat. no. 289, MoL.46.18) and gold pencil cases with the same medallions and chased gold leaves (Royal Collection, RCIN 65781) were distributed to participants. Six dozen of the souvenir rings were ordered from the royal jewellers, Rundell & Bridge.
For another royal presentation double cravat-pin, in enamelled gold with turquoises, containing the hair of the Prince Regent (later George IV), see Treasures and Trinkets, Museum of London, 1991, cat. no. 283, MoL.48.5.4
This form of double stick-pin used for the souvenir of the christening of the Prince of was evidently still in fashion. It was adopted by the consummate dandy Count d’Orsay, friend of Dickens, in about 1840. However, it is apparent from this comment by Jane Carlyle, wife of the historian Thomas Carlyle, writing in her notebook in 1845 that its popularity was in decline; she is describing the changes in d’Orsay’s dress accessories within the space of five years:
‘I had not seen him for four or five years. Last time he was as gay in his colours as a humming-bird – blue satin cravat, blue velvet waistcoat, cream-coloured coat, lined with velvet of the same hue, trousers also of a bright colour, I forget what; white French gloves, two glorious breast pins attached by a chain, and a length enough of gold watch-guard to have hanged himself in. To-day, in compliment to his five more years, he was all in black and brown – a black satin cravat, a brown velvet waistcoat, a brown coat, some shades darker than the waistcoat, lined with velvet of its own shade, and almost black trousers, one breast-pin, a large pear-shaped pearl set into a little cup of diamonds, and only one fold of gold chain round his neck, tucked together right on the centre of his spacious breast with one magnificent turquoise’.(Thea Holme, The Carlyles at Home, Oxford, 1965, p. 108-9).
Few double stick-pins survive intact and it is probably their royal associations that preserved the two cited above. (Charlotte Gere)
- Location
- On display (G47/dc13/p2/no9)
- Exhibition history
-
2019 Jul- Sep, London, British Museum (G90), 'Woven in hair a recent gift of hairwork jewellery'
- Acquisition notes
- N Bloom & Son, 40 Albemarle Street, London W1. Original invoice for ££100 to Anne Hull Grundy dated 20.3.1973, described as 'Pair gold and enamel tie pins c. 1841'.
- Department
- Britain, Europe and Prehistory
- Registration number
- 1978,1002.1160