Locket and Chain

Unknown

ca. 1870 · Tortoiseshell · The American Wing

This twenty-seven link chain and matching locket pendant are fabricated of dark-colored carved and molded tortoiseshell. The locket attaches to the chain with a hook and two intertwined loops and is carved with a superimposed monogram, possibly meant to read "MVEC." Tortoiseshell was a popular material with American jewelry and comb manufacturers throughout the nineteenth century. The most commonly used material came from the hawksbill sea turtle and was imported to the United States from China and the West Indies. A process for manufacturing tortoiseshell jewelry was recorded in Horace Greeley’s "Great Industries of the United States", published in 1872, on page 386: "This material is first soaked for forty-eight hours in warm water, and then shaved, cut into pieces, which are joined together until the requisite thickness is obtained, and then carved by hand or inlaid with gold."

Artist

Unknown

Date

ca. 1870

Medium

Tortoiseshell

Department

The American Wing

Credit line

Purchase, Susan and Jon Rotenstreich Gift, 2000