In Death Lamented

Book excerpt: In Death Lamented: The Tradition of Anglo-American Mourning Jewelry illustrates and explains prime examples of rings, bracelets, brooches, and other pieces of mourning jewelry from the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. Like the exhibition at the Massachusetts Historical Society, this volume showcases the materials in the Society’s collection and that of Sarah Nehama, a jeweler and private collector who co-curated the event at the MHS. These elegant and evocative objects are presented in context, including written explanations of the history, use, and meaning of the jewelry, as well as related pieces of material culture, such as broadsides, photographs, portraits, and trade cards. The jewelry included illustrates some of the most exemplary types, from early gold bands with death’s head iconography to jeweled brooches and intricately woven hairwork pieces of the Civil War era. Distributed for the Massachusetts Historical Society