Two gold, enamel, diamond and hairwork bracelets, a brooch and a set of dress studs, 1830s

Brooch and one bracelet:

Therese of Sachsen-Hildburghausen, Queen of Bavaria (1792-1854)

Set of dress studs:

King Ludwig I of Bavaria (1786-1868)

The brooch belonged to Therese of Sachsen-Hildburghausen, Queen of Bavaria (1792-1854), whereas the enamel, diamond and hair bracelet features the combined cipher of her and her husband King Ludwig I of Bavaria. The set of four dress studs belonged to King Ludwig I of Bavaria (1786-1868).

Sentimental Journey

The nineteenth century was the heyday of sentimental jewellery. The Romantic movement had awoken a sense of the importance of feeling, family life and national identity.

For Royals, aristocrats and the newly emerging bourgeoisie alike, it became fashionable to commemorate family occasions, important life events, births and deaths with a piece of sentimental jewellery. Very often jewels were inscribed with a meaningful date or a personal message.

Lockets were the most versatile sentimental jewels that could contain a lock of hair of a loved one, a dried flower, a small note or that great novelty: a photograph. Photographs first became more widely available in the 1840s thanks to the Daguerreotype process. Whereas miniatures painted on enamel or ivory had been a popular feature of jewellery for centuries, the photograph allowed for a much quicker and less costly way of having one’s dearest near oneself. These lockets could be worn as pendants on a chain or from a bracelet or brooch.

Locks of hair could not only be contained within a locket, but also carefully braided and incorporated into the design of a bracelet. Such hair jewels were not only very personal, but also required a very high level of skill to manufacture.

This collection from the Ducal House of Bavaria is particularly rich in lockets and other sentimental jewels containing many photographs, locks of hair and inscriptions pertaining to key figures of the Bavarian Royal house across the entire 19th century.