What distinguishes Stuart crystal from other memento mori forms?

Three features. The rock-crystal cabochon - the flat, uncoloured rock crystal lies over the miniature painting and magnifies it slightly (a lens effect). The combination of a memento mori motif with a concrete inscription - a skull or crossed bones combined with the initials and date of death of a particular deceased person. A gold mount with a black-enamel border - a small black-enamel border frames the rock crystal and underscores the mourning code. This combination is specific to the English Stuart jewellery tradition and does not occur in this precise form in other European schools of mourning jewellery.

Did Stuart crystal have a political dimension?

Yes, a very pronounced one. After the execution of Charles I by Parliament (1649), numerous memento mori jewels appeared with a royalist subtext: the piece mourned not only the deceased individual but also the executed king. Royalists - supporters of the Stuart monarchy - wore such pieces as an encoded political declaration, often concealed beneath their clothing. After the Restoration (1660) the reference became more open; the heyday of 1660–1700 falls within the second Stuart phase under Charles II and James II. After the Glorious Revolution (1688) and the final end of the Stuart line with Queen Anne (1714), Stuart crystal jewellery also lost its specific political charge.

How were the miniature paintings made?

Fine miniature motifs were applied in watercolour, tempera or gouache on a support of thin vellum, card or ivory plaque. The classic composition: a central skull, often on crossed bones, with initials and a date of death below, sometimes bordered by a weeping-willow surround or by a plait made from the deceased's own hair. The painting was executed very small (3–4 cm across), since the rock crystal magnified it. The painters were often anonymous; some workshops supplied standardised designs that were individualised only with initials and a date.

Stuart Crystal

Stuart crystal is an English memento mori jewellery technique of the late seventeenth century: a flat rock-crystal cabochon is set over a miniature painting with a memento mori motif (skull, initials, date of death) - the technique dominated English mourning jewellery of the Stuart and early Hanoverian periods.

Deutsch