Pendant

This memorial pendant was made in 1817 to commemorate the death of Princess Charlotte. She was the only daughter of the Prince of Wales (the future George IV) and his wife, Caroline of Brunswick. Charlotte had married Leopold of Saxe-Coburg, the future king of the Belgians, in 1816 and died in childbirth the following year. Three locks of her hair have been curled into the shape of Prince of Wales’ feathers. These are mounted in the vase that hangs below the miniature.

A royal coat of arms is enamelled on the reverse, with a mark of cadency, a silver (argent) label of three points, which would have been used on his arms by the Prince Regent to differentiate them from the arms of his father. Charlotte's own arms should have had a rose in the middle of the mark of cadency. However it is difficult to know whether any significance should be attached to the absence of the rose. The arms could indicate that the jewel was made for the Prince Regent, but it may also be that the arms were intended to be those of Charlotte, although lacking the rose. The presence of hair in the pendant urn indicates that the jewel was made for someone in the close circle around Charlotte.

Charlotte Jones was appointed miniature painter to the Princess, and exhibited portraits of her at the Royal Academy in 1808, 1812, 1816 and 1819. This miniature may have been exhibited in 1816. Jones painted a portrait of the same composition in 1814, and the engraver John Samuel Agar published a stipple engraving after this portrait in the same year.