I was tempted to post in the feminism/fashion thread but realized,
In a blinding flash..
that I am interested in culture and history - more than what fashion has become..
This "reliquary' type of jewelry has been around for a long time, so It's not really that strange...
The Victorians went into long periods of mourning - that's where we get the all black thing...
Not from the Gothic Period..True Gothic style would be more akin to what we think of as "romantic"
Romeo and Juliet type stuff...
Victorians - specifically British Victorians - wore - in mourning - a type of jewelry made of Jet
Which is charcoal in a phase between being charcoal and becoming coal...
It was highly prized for it's pure velvety blackness and it's ability to be carved...
Jet is no longer available as it has been used up...
But as you can guess..it was solid black
and "mourning" as a fashion style became so popular that women used to go into "mourning"
sometimes for up to 10 years - as an excuse to dress in the style..
(or maybe they were just treated really well whislt in this style)
here is a fantastic piece of jet mourning jewelry..
look this..serious bad ass piece of jewelry this..
There is also a type of jewelry called Memento Mori -
worn to remind of the fragility of life - and often consisted of skulls and bones
skulls w/flowers - skulls w/fruit etc.
morbid things plus the ephemeral.
This type of jewelry transcends time periods in concept..
and can be found through out history.
here is memento mori Georgian@1761 - skull set behind the stone..
this is hair - used to illustrate a cremation urn..
a tooth..
it's not pirate jewelry - although I'm absolutly sure pirates were into the memento mori..
Now reliquary is when artifacts - usually religious in nature - are enshrined in fancy boxes- staffs..
byzantine - medievil - baroque - rococo - gothic - renaissance periods
and were displayed to encourage religious travel - pilgrimages
which were popular at the time..
and probably helped to spread some fancy diseases..
This is a pretty famous reliquary..holds a thorn from the crown of thorns - supposedly
femur of St. Barbara...decently creepy right..
That's the lesson for the day - I hope you likey
