Gropius House

Remember: Chatelaine

By the late eighteenth century mourning and memorial jewelry had moved far beyond rings to a much wider range of forms. The ivory insets on this chatelaine depict a young woman in classical dress below and in eighteenth-century dress above. Women wore chatelaines tucked into the waist of their skirts to keep small things handy.

Pinchbeck, a mixture of copper and zinc named for its inventor, was an affordable alternative to gold.