1840 English Miniature Lovers Eye In Locket Woman Brown

Approx. 1/2 by 3 /4 inches.

Very simple and poignant ...dark eye brow with brown shaded eye. A sadness about the eye....perhaps of a love that could never be or one that has passed on.

Due to construction not examined outside of frame.

Framed in a locket type charm with engraved horse shoes on the back. not tested for content.

Very Scarce

The idea of using a part of the body to stand for the whole as a way of hiding a lover's identity has a History in English Miniature painting. The vogue for detailing an eye as a token - perhaps an illicit affair- took hold in the late 18th and early 19th Centuries .

As a gift an eye Miniature was always to remain a secret, from one lover to another. The most famous such miniature is Mrs. Fitzherberts eye painted by Cosway for the Prince of Wales. Although they later parted, it was a love which endured. Upon his death in 1830 he was found to be wearing a locket with Mrs. Fitzherberts eye around his neck