The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 28, 2024

Untitled (Case with portraits of a man and woman and hair ornaments)

Untitled (Case with portraits of a man and woman and hair ornaments)

c. 1870s
Location: not on view

Did You Know?

"Hairwork," produced in commercial workshops and as a popular craft during the Victorian era, was used to celebrate the living and commemorate the dead.

Description

The photographs of this man and woman, presumably husband and wife, are juxtaposed with clippings of their hair arranged to form their initials, A and M. In the late 1800s, photographic portraits and hair clippings combined in jewelry or frames served as mementos or memorials for loved ones. For permanence, the portraits here were vitrified on enamel, a process now used primarily for funerary monuments.
  • {{cite web|title=Untitled (Case with portraits of a man and woman and hair ornaments)|url=false|author=|year=c. 1870s|access-date=28 March 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2017.9