Brooch

The painted mourning scene, a popular device in miniatures, most often featured a woman in Grecian-style dresses crying by a grave under a weeping willow or cypress tree. This brooch, however, features a young man in mourning next to a simple tombstone. He wears fashionable clothing of the time, but otherwise the scene is plain. The austerity of the grave and surroundings suggest a feeling of somberness without the presence of other traditional symbols of mourning, such as a willow.