Life Cut Short: Hair Jewelry Highlights
As a token of love or a memorial to the dearly departed, human hair has long been incorporated into objects of adornment. Life Cut Short looks at the history of hair jewelry through a display of approximately 30 bracelets, earrings, brooches, and other accessories from New-York Historical’s collection, illustrating aspects of the fascinating history of hair jewelry as it manifested in New York. Miniatures and other jewelry decorated with hair became symbolic of mourning, creating personal mementos that provided solace while also being fashionable and socially appropriate.
Highlights of the installation are a gold mourning ring containing a lock of founding father Alexander Hamilton’s hair, clipped by his wife, Elizabeth, as a keepsake while he was on his deathbed; tools used by artist John Ramage to create the hairwork he often incorporated into his portrait miniatures, and a Tiffany & Co. mourning bracelet featuring hair, gold, silver, and diamonds (ca. 1854), one of many types of mourning goods sold by the famed New York City jeweler. Also on display is artist and naturalist John James Audubon’s hair, given to New York Historical by his widow, Lucy Bakewell Audubon. (Curated by Debra Schmidt Bach, curator of decorative arts)
