A place to document the historical research and experimental techniques used in the creation of TBH pieces.

Deep beneath the streets of Paris, Rome, and other ancient cities lie mysterious networks of tunnels and chambers that have captured imaginations for centuries. These catacombs and ossuaries, serving as final resting places for millions, represent some of humanity's most fascinating historical sites – and now, they've inspired my latest hand-printed t-shirt design.

Dating back to the 2nd century CE, catacombs were originally created as underground burial places by early Christian communities. These elaborate tunnel systems later evolved into both practical burial solutions and sacred spaces, with the Paris Catacombs alone housing the remains of over six million people.

Gentlemen carrying torches visiting catacombs in Paris. Coloured aquatint by R.B. Peake.

Ossuaries, or bone churches, represent another fascinating chapter in this historical narrative. Places like the Sedlec Ossuary in the Czech Republic transformed human remains into hauntingly beautiful artistic arrangements, creating elaborate chandeliers and coat of arms from bones and skulls. Some of these sacred spaces house human remains displayed in a completely unique way - dressed in finery or armour, posed as in life, or simply stacked atop of each other.

Whether as places of prayer or memorial, these ossuaries and catacombs ultimately serve as a reminder of death and the fragility of life.

Order your hand printed Catacombs T-shirt in the shop.

The inspiration behind one of the new T-shirt designs 

If you would like to order from The Black Hart for Christmas please see the delivery info below: 

T-shirts, hoodies and printed accessories can be ordered up until Monday 16th December. Please allow a few days for your order to be printed and dispatched, my final posting day will be Thursday 19th December. 

For jewellery, the made to order window has already passed, but I have updated the jewellery pages to show which items I have ready to ship. These items will be dispatched next day with guaranteed by 1pm postage, and can be ordered until Thursday 19th December. 

If you order a non-marked jewellery item or place an order after the 19th, your order will be fulfilled in January. 

Thank you for choosing to shop with TBH this festive season!

Info on shipping times this festive season 

Witchcraft has been a subject of fascination and fear for centuries, and during the early modern period in Britain, it became a matter of life and death. From the 16th to the 18th century, thousands of people, mostly women, were accused of witchcraft and put on trial, leading to their execution.

Witchcraft was viewed as a serious crime during the early modern period, and those accused of it were often subjected to torture and execution. Women were particularly vulnerable to accusations of witchcraft, seen as more susceptible to the powers of the devil by church teachings. It is important to note that variations of witchcraft were present long before this period in Britain, but was heavily associated with the pagans and druids, and became more and more demonised as Christianity became more widespread and embedded in the culture.

Religion played a significant role in the witch-hunting craze of early modern Britain. The Protestant Reformation had created a climate of religious intolerance, and many Protestants believed that witches were in league with the devil and were a threat to the Church. In 1563, the Witchcraft Act was passed, which made it a crime punishable by death to practice witchcraft, and this law was reinforced by the 1604 Witchcraft Act, which made it a crime to even consult with a witch. The Puritans, a group of radical Protestants, were particularly zealous in their pursuit of witches, and many witch trials occurred in areas where they had a strong presence.

From The History of Witches and Wizards, 1720

Witchfinding in early modern Britain was a complex and often brutal process. Accusations of witchcraft could be made by anyone, and once an accusation was made, the accused was often subjected to a range of tortures and interrogations designed to elicit a confession.

The technique of "swimming" the accused was one of the most notorious methods of witchfinding in early modern Britain. It was based on the belief that witches had made a pact with the devil and would therefore be unable to be submerged in water, which was associated with baptism and purity. The accused person would either have their hands and feed bound together or be tied to a chair or other heavy object and thrown into a body of water, such as a pond or river. If they floated, they were considered guilty of witchcraft, but if they sank, they were believed to be innocent. While drowning the accused was supposedly not the aim of this particular trial, it was unfortunately often an outcome. Specific laws were brought into place later in the witchfinding era that if someone subjected another to “swimming” and they drowned, the accuser would have to stand trial for murder.

Another common method of witchfinding was the use of "witch prickers," who were hired to find "witch marks" on the bodies of suspected witches. Witch marks were believed to be evidence of the devil's touch, and included moles, birthmarks, and even wrinkles. The witch pricker would use a sharp instrument to poke and prod the accused, looking for areas of the body that did not feel pain. Once a witch mark was found, it was taken as proof of the accused's guilt. Interestingly it is very common to have areas on the human body which do not feel pain or bleed much simply due to the arrangement of nerves and blood vessels under the skin. This technique of course could easily be doctored by the practitioners who were paid for their work in finding witches.

A page from 'The discovery of Witches' from which the below illustration was adapted for my new t-shirt design.

Read more about the practice of witch hunting in Early Modern Britain.

While the spelling varies, a poesy (posey, posy, posie) ring is a simple item - usually a gold ring with an inscription on the inside of a short poem or saying. These rings hold great sentimental value and were often given as love tokens or friendship symbols, which is reflected in the nature of the inscriptions (a poesy is a little poem). 

This blog post comes after extensive research I did when designing custom wedding bands for my partner and myself for our upcoming wedding. While my ring needed to fit around my lovely engagement ring, I was given free reign with the ring I carved for my partner, and together we chose a poesy ring. 

Happily, there are numerous examples of poesy rings in Museums and collections. The Ashmolean states that poesy rings were popular as early as the 5th century, with museum pieces often being dated between the 1500s to the 1800s. While we don't see poesy rings much now, any ring with a sentimental inscription could be considered a part of this long tradition. 

Incredible collections in UK museums exist at the Ashmolean in Oxford and the V&A in London. I've included some that particularly appealed to me here. Scroll down for a list of other poesy inscriptions, and get in touch if you'd like to commission your own love token poesy ring. 

This gold ring was made between the 17th and 18th centuries. It's inscription reads: "Wit wealth & beauty all do well But constant loue doth far excell" via British Museum 

"A virtuous Wife prolongeth life" via British Museum 

This ring is a little different - an English silver poesy ring (c17th-18th C) which simply reads "A kiss for this" via British Museum

Due to the age of most of these rings, the inscriptions tend to have non standard or old english spellings, like this one which reads "You have My hart" via British Museum 

This ring, while not the most exciting to look at, and is a very tarnished brass, but was probably a betrothal or engagement ring, as the inscription on this one says "MARIE MEE" via British Museum 

"No heart so true as mine to you" via British Museum 

All I refues and thee i chus [All I refuse and you I choose]

My heart and eye until I die (where the heart and eye are pictures)

I will keep adding to my list of poesy inscriptions but there are many, many examples each with their own inscription - if you'd like to commission a custom poesy ring from me, if you like one of the quotes above, like your own or simply want initials in your wedding bands then let me know!  

Poesy, Posy, Posie or Posey - these romantic rings have stood the test of time 

There's something intriguing about burial grounds and the rituals we have around death and remembrance. The house I grew up in had a garden that led directly onto a graveyard, separated by a wooden fence. I spent a lot of time walking through, looking at all the different gravestones, and as I've got older I still visit graveyards when I come across them. 

Gravestone (or headstone) designs come in so many forms, but for this collection I've focused on a few recurring motifs I've seen. Most of the images I've used below come from the gravestones in Salem MA and a few places in Scotland.

Seen on lots of early gravestones, the skull or deaths head has quite clear connections to death. This photo I took in Salem is one of my favourite examples - a skull and crossbones. The Skull being popular in old graves (say 1700-1800s) means that they are often worn down by the elements. For some reason this one from 1769 still has a really clear design. You might have seen me use this image before - its one of my favourites. 

Another example from the same cemetery (there were a few with very similar designs - perhaps made by the same person) shows a skull with wings, representing the dead's ascension up to heaven. 

Most of the cemeteries I visit are in churchyards and specifically relate to Christian burial grounds. One common feature I've seen in and outside of specifically Christian graveyards is archways. This could be a design feature chosen to echo common features from within churches, but is also thought sometimes to represent a passage - passing through an archway means going from one place to another - so perhaps and archway represents the passage from living to dead, or mortal to heaven. 

Stone outside Rosslyn  chapel, Roslin, Midlothian 

Grave at Abney Park, Stoke Newington, London

Fairly clearly a Christian tradition, crosses on headstones are common in any countries where Christianity has a long history. This example, (photo from Canmore.org.uk) is one of the stones that remains at the ruins of St Bride’s Chapel, Scotland. The chapel was dedicated before 1648 and all that remains now are the font and some stones. It’s unclear wether this stone with the cross design was to indicate the site of the chapel or the burial ground of Chapel Dermid. 

Hands are an interesting feature, seen less often than the other symbols seen above that can mean a variety of things. A hand pointing upwards generally is pointing up to heaven, but a hand pointing down does not mean the opposite, rather it is usually meant to represent the hand of God coming down, usually indicating a life cut short.

In Abney Park cemetery, a beautiful, interesting non secular graveyard in Stoke Newington is this example of a hand gravestone, which resembles the same fist symbol used to represent righteousness and fighting for what is right. 

Obelisk gravestone with a Fist, Abney Park Cemetery, London.

Another pretty clear symbol - an angel represents heaven watching over the dead. There are some beautiful examples of angels weeping over headstones. 

The grave of Emelyn Story in Rome, carved by her husband William Wetmore Story, 1894. Via Wikipedia

Like the crying angels, a weeping willow is thought to represent mourning. Other interesting symbolic meanings of the weeping willow are that it requires and so usually is found near bodies of water, evoking again the 'weeping' tears idea, but also are fairly hardy trees that only really require a lot of water and not much else in order to survive. The weeping willow was particularly fashionable as a headstone adornment in the Victorian period, when many mourning practices became highly popular (probably due to the Queen's eternal mourning period after the death of Prince Albert). 

Photo by Chris Raymond https://www.funeralhelpcenter.com/cemetery-headstone-symbols-weeping-willow-tree/

Design inspiration for the gravestone mini collection 

Learn more about the symbolism of gravestone designs, some historic examples from the UK and USA and their inspiration for my mini collection.

Scotland to Salem: The Gravestone Collection

Death and the Maiden by Hans Baldung Grien c1518-20

'Death and the Maiden' is the name given to an artistic motif that was very popular in European Renaissance art. It usually contains the image of a young woman being seduced or approached by death, often shown as a skeleton or cadaver. It is thought of as another iteration of the 'Dance of Death' motif, but I think it is slightly more interesting in it's symbolism and usage.

Lumped in with Death and the Maiden is also the popular theme of 'Eros and Thanatos', or sex and death. In these images, it is harder to tell if the women are being seized or being enraptured. The connections between sex and death are up for debate - some philosophers and art critics see the two themes as ultimate truths of being a human. The french word for orgasm 'La petite mort', the little death, brings another connection where the brief moment of sex and death are described as the same. Not all Death and the Maiden imagery is inherently sexual though. In the painting below, 'La Belle Rosine', the young model Rosine looks well and full of life with roses in her cheeks and hair, while looking at a skeleton, which if you look carefully has a label on the skull that reads 'La Belle Rosine' 

You can take a few things from this painting depending on your outlook. It may be saying that regardless of your youth and beauty, we all end up the same, as bones. It could be a comment on the naivete of youth, as Rosine seems unaware that she is looking at her future self. I think this image is particularly interesting because the skeleton for once isn't depicted as a male personification of death, but as Rosine herself. I think the gendered nature of these images is often just a visual way of showing the opposing but coupled nature of life (fertile, feminine, beautiful) and death (powerful, final, inevitable). Showing two opposites that are really a part of the same cycle, two halves of a whole. 

All the images so far are ones I found in a book called 'Death: A Graveside Companion' which I'm using for inspiration and reference material. While there are plenty more beautiful images of women and skeletons inside it, I thought I would also share some interesting offshoots I've found while researching:

Cooper, Richard Tennant, 1885-1957 Wellcome 

The painting above, for example, shows three figures. The full title for the work on the Wellcome website describes the scene: A provocative naked young woman lying on a bed, death (a cloaked skeleton) sits at her side, a naked man walks away from the bed with his head bowed, towards a throng of diseased and dying people; representing syphilis. While I don't know the exact date this was painted, its probably fair to say that this iteration of 'Death and the Maiden' brings the two together as a force for spreading disease and killing men. Interesting. 

The Maiden, the Knight and Death, by Hans Baldung Grien (1485-1545)

The painting above (another Grien) is more focused on the struggle between life and death - the Knight is trying to save the woman from the grips of death. A much later painting (below) shows a similar struggle, but instead of a Knight on horseback, the man dragging the woman away from the grip of death is a doctor, representing the feats of modern medicine, but possibly also the struggles in medicine about deciding who to save and who to give up to death.

Physician Struggling with Death for Life by Ivo Saliger, 1920.

There are many, many more depictions of Death and the Maiden, and I'm drawn to all of them. I think the connections between life, sex and death are beautifully explored in many of the paintings and are a really interesting part of Memento Mori symbolism. 

I recently live-streamed the creation of a ring inspired by this motif which you can find here. I will write up more on the process of making the ring in a future blog post. 

An artistic motif popular from the 1500s to the 1900s, explore the symbolism and interpretations of Death and the Maiden in art.

Silver exists in its pure form within the earths crust, meaning that people have been aware of it for thousands of years. Over this time, the metal has accumulated meanings and uses, both symbolic and practical, of many kinds.

One well known pairing of silver is with the moon. The chemical symbol of silver, Ag, comes from the Latin argentum, which means off-white. It is this colour which is thought to be the main reason the metal has its association with the moon and its ghostly light. The goddess Artemis, tasked with bringing the moon each night, uses a silver bow in her role as Goddess of the Chase and wears a crescent moon head piece.

Artemis, wall painting from Stabiae; in the Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Naples.

The ancient Egyptians considered silver to be a 'near perfect metal', and venerated it as such. They gave gold the symbol of a circle (as the most perfect metal), and silver the symbol of a semi-circle, again tying silver to the image of a crescent moon. The skin of ancient Egyptian Gods was said to be gold, while their bones were made from silver.

Another strong connector is alchemy. In the 1600s, Alchemists connected the seven base metals to the seven planets, and also to parts of the body. Silver is associated to the Moon, and to the brain. This connection is probably what spurred terms such as 'lunacy', which originally referred to changes in behaviour that were thought to be in reaction to the changes in the moon during the month.

The marriage of the Sol and Luna,Rosarium Philosophorum(Frankfurt, 1550). (Foundation of the Works of C.G. Jung, Zurich)

In 1614, Angelo Sala gave silver nitrate internally as a counterirritant, a purgative, and for the treatment of brain infections. Later, it was used as a treatment for epilepsy after one patient stopped having seizures after swallowing a silver coin that had been used to try to prevent the patient biting his tongue during a seizure.

Interestingly, while silver was used to treat seizures and brain infections, by the 1900s it was found that high doses of silver could actually cause convulsions and even death, which probably only further enforced the idea that silver, the brain, and the moon have a powerful connection.

Because of their close connection, the moon and silver share lots of symbolic meanings, such as purity and innocence, or a connection to femininity, fertility and protection.

Two of my crescent moon creations - hand carved from wax and then cast in recycled sterling silver. Available in the shop.

From alchemy to lunacy - read more here about the symbolism and connections between silver and the moon.

As probably one of the oldest forms of mass produced money, it isn't surprising that silver has associations with class all over the world.

Silver coins have been found all the way back to around 600BC. Silver's rarity and malleability made it a good candidate for minting money - it had an almost 'inherent' and universal value and could be stamped fairly easily to mark it as a coin.

Silver Coin of Constantine II, circa 317-340, The British Museum.

It is important to acknowledge here that forced labour and slavery used to mine silver is what boosted the colonial economies and brought to the surface huge amounts of silver under horrific conditions.

As such, it makes sense that if you could afford to have your silver sitting on a shelf in an aesthetic form for your own pleasure, rather than in your purse, that you were using silver as a status symbol.

Before it was commonplace for cutlery to be provided in place settings, it was customary to carry one's own spoon around, like you would a wallet or keys. A silver spoon specifically denoted class, giving a visual marker to others that you were a skilled craftsman or landowner.

To be born with a silver spoon in ones mouth is a phrase used to mean born into affluence. The phrase likely comes from an old tradition of giving a silver spoon as a gift to an infant at their christening. Supposedly it was usual for the affluent to give a set of 12 apostle spoons, each bearing the image of a different saint, and for godparents who could not afford 12, a single spoon, sometimes with a patron saint on, would be gifted instead.

The use of silver cutlery also gave birth to another euphemism for wealth - 'Blue Blooded'. Privileged families who ate from silver platters or using silver cutlery developed a medical condition called Argyria, which is a build up of silver in the bodies tissues, giving the skin a bluish appearance. In addition to this, rich families might avoid being out in the sun (and thus being associated with manual workers) which only served to enhance the odd, pale blue colouring of their skin.

Harley 7353: Genealogy of Edward IV, via Medieval Fragments 

Other origins of the term blue blooded are thought to relate to racism in medieval Spain, where showing one's wrist to show the blue veins beneath proved one as noble (in contrast to people with darker skin tones). Or possibly to 'The Royal Disease' of haemophilia, connected to a rare blood type which supposedly contained higher amounts of copper and made veins appear more blue under the skin. I personally favour the Argyria theory, as a silver wine goblet alone could leach 100s of parts per million of silver in the wine, though all three theories probably contributed to the continued usage of the phrase to refer to people of wealthy descent.

How is silver related to class through the ages? Learn more in this blog post about social attitudes and uses of silver.

In the Museum of the Order of St John, you can see a collection of silver displayed in the Old Chancery. While the shining cabinets reflect the wealth of the religious Order of St John in the 18th and 19th centuries, a tour guide might tell you an interesting story about the use of silver plates in the original St John Hospital in Jerusalem, after which the order was founded in 1113. In this hospital, patients were treated as if they could be the next coming of Christ, and served from silver platters. It is now known that this use of silver was important in keeping infection and cross contamination levels down in the hospital and inadvertently protecting the patients.

Old Chancery Silver, The Museum of the Order of St John

Pirates were said to pierce their ears with silver or gold in order to improve the eyesight of the corresponding eye to ear, and while this technique seems to have no scientific explanation, the practice of putting silver coins into the drinking water aboard ships does. Silver has antimicrobial properties, meaning it will aid in the breakdown of bacteria, helping to keep things like water free of contaminants. On land, the same technique was used. The ancient Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans, Egyptians,and others also were recorded to have used silver in one form or another to preserve food and water, which was especially important on long journeys or on the battlefield. Silver was still used extensively for this purpose throughout World War II.

In Rome in 69 B.C.E., silver nitrate was mentioned in a pharmacopeia as a medical agent, and has been used and refined throughout history in a number of ways. The most common and successful of these uses was as a support to heal wounds, while the least effective was its use to treat ill understood brain and mental health difficulties, see more about this in Silver and the Moon.

Pitcher with Scenes from the Trojan War, Roman, A.D. 1-100; silver and gold. Achilles dragging the body of Hector around the walls of Troy. via the Paul J. Getty Museum

By 1800, it was widely known and understood that wine, water and milk stayed pure for longer if kept in silver bottles. By this time the use of silver nitrate to treat skin ulcers and aid in healing wounds was also widely known and understood to be because the metal aided in the breakdown of bacteria (which is important, as antibiotics as we know them now were not discovered until the end of the century).

Today, you will find silver nitrate in plasters and wound dressings, but you might also find information online about 'colloidal silver' being used as a kind of cure-all. The medical use of colloidal silver (which is ingested rather than applied to any kind of wound) is not proven, and is the kind of practice which can result in Argyria, see Silver and Class for more info.

While piercing your ear might not really improve your eyesight, the mythical protective powers of silver remain today - and presumably grew from its incredible power to purify water and keep people from becoming ill on long journeys or after sustaining dangerous wounds.

A surprisingly long standing fixture in medicine, Silver has been used in many ways to treat the sick and wounded throughout history, but has also caused issues itself. Read more here.

How often do you think about your own mortality?

Skulls have always been deeply symbolic to us. Traditions around the globe have used the image of the skull to represent life, death, nature, love and faith in different ways, often worn in the form of talismans and jewellery. The most famous form of this is ‘Memento Mori’ jewellery.

‘Memento mori’ literally means ‘remember death’ or ‘remember you must die’. The idea was thought to have been popularised in medieval Europe both through the spreading of Christian ideas and the constant presence of death in the era. The medieval period was the time of the black death, societal upheaval and general disease and unrest. The average person could expect to live between 30 and 50 years, and it was normal for families to lose babies and children. At the same time, Christianity had swept through the continent, and ideas about heaven, hell and purgatory began to take root in the minds of the people. It is thought that this cultural environment is what caused the popularity of memento mori jewellery (and art, music and literature). With the intention that wearing images of death would remind the wearer that not only is death an inevitability, but it can come at any time. To avoid burning in torture for eternity or having to atone through a long stay in purgatory, one was expected to live piously at all times, just in case. The rings, pendants and other jewellery depicting the skulls and mottos typical of the memento mori style were meant to be a constant reminder of one’s own mortality.

A gold memento mori pendant, used to remind the user of the transience of life and material luxury, containing a decaying corpse inside a coffin. (Open). Credit: Wellcome Collection.Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

While the religious aspects of this theory are most definitely upheld in many examples, memento mori jewellery was so widespread that the meaning must have been wider than merely a christian fear of a doomed afterlife. In the Elizabethan period, it is thought that the finger on which one wore a ‘deaths head ring’ (usually a skull without a lower jaw) indicated one’s standing in life - thumb for a doctor, middle finger for a bawd (pimp or brothelkeeper) etc. But wedding rings and love tokens also depicted skulls, skeletons and mottos of mortality, indicating that while the skull imagery was meant to remind one of mortality, that it also symbolised commitment and ‘til death’ part of the marriage vows.

This English example from the collections at the V&A, made between 1550 and 1600 has two inscriptions. The face of the ring reads ‘Behold the ende’ and descriptions of the object state that around the band, the inscription says ‘rather death than fals fayth’, where a true lover’s knot unites two initials. It is thought to be a memento mori wedding ring:

Gold Ring with a skull in the centre of the face, surrounded by black lettering. Credit: V&A Collection

One trend I find particularly macabre was the double sided carvings, showing both life and death at once. Sometimes in the form of necklaces meant to be worn alongside a necklace of prayer beads, reminding you to think of death while saying your Hail Marys.

Memento mori carved ivory pommel. View of young woman on the front and cadaver on reverse. © Trustees of the Wernher Foundation Credit: English Heritage

Wooden memento mori of a woman, Italy. Credit:Science Museum, London.Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Monks and religious people in the medieval period and beyond were often buried in a tomb called a ‘transi’, on which a life sized statue of the deceased laid on top, usually in a skeletal form, sometimes shown with worms and other signs of decay. These cadaver monuments would also be common for those of high society, who wanted to display their piousness for all to ensure their safe travels to heaven after death.

Cadaver Tomb of Prior William Weston (c.1470–1540). (LDOSJ 5492) Photo credit: The Museum of the Order of St John via ArtUK

Money Can’t Buy Life, But it Can Buy Reminders of Death

It is interesting to me though, that the jewellery created to remind one of the transience of material life and wealth were often made so beautifully from precious metals and stones. This example from the British Museum, probably made in France between 1525-1575, is made from gold with colourful enamel, precious stones and even opens to reveal a figure and inscription in Latin, which translates to “For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord” “Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in Him; and he shall bring it to pass”

Memento Mori finger ring, showing a skull on top of a book made from gold and precious stones. The British Museum

Memento Mori finger ring, shown with the book face open to reveal a languishing figure and black lettering. The British Museum

Not all examples of memento mori jewellery are so gaudy though, and were worn by everyone from the poor, who might have pendants carved from wood, to the noble people. This gold Italian piece from the V&A has only a tiny skull, but an inscription that translates to ‘Remember the end’:

Gold ring, the octagonal bezel engraved with a shield with two notches and a merchant's mark with C & R attached, a skull above and the inscription 'RICORDATI. IL. TUO. FINN.', Credit V&A Collection

One of my favourite examples I have found in looking for skull inspiration is this watch:

Silver skull watch with cursive engravings on top of head. Credit: The British Museum

Made in a beautiful solid silver, the jaws separate to open the skull and reveal a clock face. This piece, now held at the British Museum, is believed to have been made in Germany, between 1655-1665 by J C Vuolf. The collections online page has more information about the item, but the draw to me lies in the simple but beautiful and clear skull face, and the multiple engravings.

Around the top of the skull are four inscriptions: ‘vita fugitur’ (life is fleeting), engraved across the front temple; ‘caduca despice’ (look down upon a fallen thing), over the right side; ‘aesterna respice’ (look upon eternity), over the top of the left side; and finally, at the back of the skull, an engraving of an hour glass flanked by the words ‘incerta hora’ (the hour [of death] is uncertain).

If I ever make a watch, it is definitely having that last inscription.

The idea of time is inextricably connected to that of life and death, and is constantly symbolised in memento mori jewellery by an hourglass.

This brooch shows a skeleton holding an hourglass, a classic combo for memento mori, but also includes human hair and the inscription of a person’s initials.

Memento mori, Europe, 1689. Credit: Science Museum, London. Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

While the use of hair in mourning jewellery exploded in the Victorian period (this can be a whole post of its own) this piece has the date 1689 inscribed on the back. This shows that people were already using typical ‘memento mori’ imagery for more than only religious purposes, way before the Victorians made it popular. While the skeleton is a macabre reminder that life is fleeting, this example shows that those meanings can sit alongside more sentimental ideas about life and loss.

In fact, the ideas of remembering ones own death and the deaths of others become more and more openly linked throughout time. This invitation to the funeral of Sir Edward Sebright shows illustrations of the funeral march, allegorical figures of death and Resurrection, and says, below the invite text : REMEMBER TO DIE

Ticket To Thomas Seers for Sir Edward Sebright's funeral. Highly decorated with black and white illustrations. Credit: British Museum

Learn more about the Memento Mori tradition and style which inspires much of my handmade silver jewellery. 

Catacombs and Ossuaries

Christmas gift ordering

Witchfinders in Early Modern Britain

A Brief History of Poesy Rings

Scotland to Salem: The Gravestone Collection

Death and the Maiden

Silver and the Moon

Silver and Class

Silver and Medicine

Memento Mori