One way women who wanted to wear jewellery but still be 'in good taste' could get around this problem was by wearing ornaments that served a purpose - Chatelaines.
Chatelaines were originally the keys to the castle, worn in earlier centuries by the Lady of the castle, then later by the housekeeper of great houses. At a time when pockets in women's clothing were seen as symbols of privacy and secrecy, and depicted in paintings to symbolise a woman's private (sexual) life and therefore her immorality (!), the keys to the castle were worn on a chain fastened over the clothes around the waist. N.B. - I'd intended that to be a shorter sentence, and to provide a single link to explain. Turns out this is a larger topic than I'd remembered, and a single link won't be enough. Try here, here, or here, for some good articles on the history of women's pockets.
In the nineteenth century Chatelaines were adopted by professional nurses and seamstresses, as well as fashionable middle- and upper-class young women, who eventually turned them in to a form of charm bracelet, with charms and trinkets given between friends.
Traditionally a visible sign of trust, authority, and responsibility within a household, this non-jewellery jewellery snuck in under the boundary of ‘ostentatious display’.
A Chatelaine was a sign a young woman took her housekeeping role seriously, - look at how many tools she carried with her! The 'tools' varied enormously, and would have been of varying degrees of usefulness, starting with keys, a needle and thread, matches, a pen holder, and spectacle holder.
The above example is a relatively useful chatelaine in cut steel, from the V&A museum.
Becoming less useful given the small size required, we then have memorandum books, knives, opera glasses, card cases, and fans. One popular accessory was the scent bottle, available in a huge range of designs.
The three above examples, from left to right, are - from Steppes Hill (item now sold) a costrel shaped bottle and vinaigrette, in the middle a rare ruby glass and gilt scent bottle and vinaigrette from Rutherford's Antiques (where I work), and on the right a Faberge example (also now sold) in gold and enamel. Although the Faberge piece is dated to slightly after the Victorian era, its existance shows how popular and wide reashing this fashion was during the nineteenth century.
Most Chatelaines were made in cut-steel, base metal, or silver, as the large size and ostensibly useful nature of the charms would have put gold pieces beyond most women’s financial reach, although I have seen one reference to a gold key set with rubies. (Unless the lock is also made of gold, a gold key will bend out of shape very quickly.) Under the heading of 'useful household items', chatelaine pieces could be bought by women with their own money, and were collected and exchanged between friends. Purely ornamental jewellery would traditionally only be bought in order to be given within families, or only by very wealthy women.
Not only were they a way of wearing jewellery during the day, they provided a polite excuse for two women talking quietly in a corner at parties, something otherwise seen as bad manners.
As often happens when women embrace a fashion, the Chatelaine was laughed at, its usefulness was questioned, and its symbolic importance for a young woman was belittled. It eventually faded almost completely from history, very few people outside the industry know of them, and I know of only a couple of serious collectors.
My next Nineteenth Century Daywear Jewellery post will hopefully not take as long as this one has, and will hopefully be an introduction to cameos.
If you like anything I write, if you would like more (or less) information on any topic, let me know!
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