Cleveland Museum of Art

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

Date

c. 1870s

Medium

Photographs: photographs on enamel, framed in copper alloy metal frames; hair lockets: hair with pen and black and ink on cream-colored backing; case: leather with metal push-clasp and velvet-lined interior

Culture

19th century

Department

Photography

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

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

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