Jewelry
Mark Campbell (Manufacturer and seller)
Chicago, Illinois, United States, North America
1867-1879
Hair (human); Gold; Steel; Wax; Shellac
Hair work (table work)
2011.0043.002
Object Number2011.0043.002 |
Brooch (Pin)
Jewelry
Gift of Sarah Gest Bauer in memory of her parents Donald A. Gest and Nancy Johnson Gest
Mark Campbell (Manufacturer and seller)
Chicago, Illinois, United States, North America
1867-1879
Hair (human); Gold; Steel; Wax; Shellac
Hair work (table work)
1.6 (L) , 1 (W) , 0.3 (D)
4 (L) , 2.5 (W) , 0.7 (D)
Dark brown, open weave "elastic" hairwork segments are clasped in rose-gold mounts to make this grape leaf brooch that also converts to a pendant. Such hairwork was popular in Victorian England and gained fashion traction in America following the Civil War. It was promoted by jewelry manufacturers who answered market demand by producing completed designs and selling components to be assembled as a sentimental home-craft by ladies with leisure time. Mark Campbell's firm in Chicago offered this particular brooch design in their 1867 instruction manual, "The Art of Hairwork."
[Book] Fales, Martha Gandy. 1995 Jewelry in America, 1600-1800.
• Similar objects; p.101 and p. 104
[Catalogue] Campbell, Mark. 1867 The Art of Hairwork.
• (Pictured in 1867 and 1875 editions), p. 153
[Book] Sheumaker, Helen. 2007 Love Entwined: The Curious History of Hairwork in America.
• Industrial research