brooch
- Museum number
- 1978,1002.899
- Description
-
Chased two-colour gold brooch set with amethysts, topazes, a pearl and a turquoise in the form of a pansy flower.
- Production date
- 1840-1850
- Dimensions
-
Height: 3.70 centimetres
- Curator's comments
- Text from the catalogue of the Hull Grundy Gift (Gere et al 1984) no.735:
In the language of flowers, the pansy flower stands for 'pensees' (thoughts), a play on words, and it is often found in association with French inscriptions on English pieces. An alternative meaning was 'you occupy my thoughts'. The pansy flower was popular in jewellery in the mid-nineteenth century as this was the period when successful experiments in the cultivation of large species from the native viola produced the flower that we know today. The first blotched variety was grown in 1830, and the richly coloured velvety pansy was produced in 1861. (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. 134 p.180. Caption: ‘Jewels imitating violets and pansies or heartsease, Probably English, 1840–50.’
See also: J. Rudoe, ‘Queen Charlotte’s Jewellery’, in Jonathan Marsden (ed.), The Wisdom of George III, Royal Collection, 2005, fig. 71 Text: Many jewels contained messages and can be paralleled exactly in the Prince of Wales’s accounts and the Garrard ledgers. For example the Queen [Charlotte] had three hearts’ ease or pansy brooches (meaning ‘thoughts’, from the French ‘pensée’), accurately depicted in amethysts and topaz to represent the top and bottom petals (24 May, lot 11 [in the Christie’s 1819 sale catalogue of the Queen’s possessions]. (Charlotte Gere)
- Location
- On display (G47/dc8)
- Acquisition date
- 1978
- Department
- Britain, Europe and Prehistory
- Registration number
- 1978,1002.899
- Additional IDs
-
Miscellaneous number: HG.899 (masterlist number)
