Brooch (Mourning brooch or pin)

Description

The design of this brooch features prominent Gothic revival elements, which it shares with other fashionable jewelry of this period. Fourteen round, faceted black jet stones in graduated sizes encircle a hair compartment containing plaited human hair. The brooch’s underside is engraved “E I d P” in script between the pin’s hinge and C-shape clasp. This brooch commemorates Eleuthera Irénée du Pont de Nemours (1771–1834). It is similar to the ring (Winterthur 1959. 0568) commemorating the death of his wife Sophie Madeleine du Pont (1775–1828) on November 27, 1828. Both pieces of jewelry include fourteen pieces of faceted jet.