What counts as funerary jewellery?

Three main categories. Grave goods - pieces of jewellery placed in the grave with the deceased person (commonplace in antiquity; today subject to restrictions, and severely limited above all in Orthodox Jewish and Islamic contexts). Ritual pieces of the day - jewellery worn by the bereaved on the day of the funeral (black mourning necklaces, mourning rings, black-enamel brooches). Keepsakes made from funerary substances - modern pendants containing the ashes, hair or fingerprint of the deceased person, which arise out of the burial (see Ash Pendant, Hair Pendant (Modern Memorial Jewellery)).

What cultural differences are there?

Very substantial ones. Antiquity (Egypt, Greece, Rome): elaborate grave goods in gold, gemstones and personal jewellery. The Christian Middle Ages: simple grave goods, often pilgrim badges or reliquaries (see Reliquary Pendant). Jewish tradition: minimal grave goods, the body is interred in a plain linen shroud - jewellery is removed. Islamic tradition: no jewellery among the grave goods, the body is wrapped in five cloths. Modern secular burial: rings, necklaces and smaller personal pieces are often placed with the deceased or kept in the family as a memento.

Is it permitted today to place jewellery in the grave?

In Germany and Austria: yes, with restrictions. In an earth burial, individual personal pieces belonging to the deceased person may accompany them (a wedding ring, a favourite necklace, a religious symbol). In the case of cremation, jewellery must be removed beforehand, since gold alloys partly vaporise at crematorium temperatures or fuse with the ashes (see Burial Laws and the Ashes of the Deceased (Germany, Austria, Switzerland)). For interment in an urn grove or a woodland burial, grave goods of jewellery are usually not provided for.

Funerary Jewellery

Funerary jewellery is jewellery placed with a deceased person at burial or worn by the bereaved on the day of the funeral - an umbrella term covering very different forms with a tradition thousands of years old and a modern redefinition as a personalised keepsake.

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