A 19c French Memorial Relic Enamel Pendant marked as Double or Rolled gold

This beautiful enamel pendant would have been a treasured possession of a loved one. When that person passed on, the bereaving person had it mounted on the black ribbon with double or rolled gold mountings and chain. It would have been worn on a lapel threaded through a button hole for some time after the bereavement and thereafter kept in memory of the deceased person. The enamel picture shows a young lady reclining beneath a tree with a basket of flowers on her arm.

The length is 6 inches. The enamel pendant is 1 inch by 1/2 inch.

The chain is marked double gold which means it has 10 microns of gold plate. The pendant is not marked. It was the symbolic and sentimental significance of the pendant that cause it to be mounted with the gold chain and ribbon not the intrinsic value of the pendant. It was probably a pendant the person wore every day.

A fabulous antique that tells us a lot about how loved ones were mourned and remembered unashamedly in a very public way. It was part of the bereavement process.