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Gold plated metal aigrette [.1] with an engraved bow and set with twenty-eight pastes and white bird's feather. In original case [.2]. White peacock feathers depicted in photograph replaced in 2015 for exhibition.
aigrettes (plumes)
hair accessories
feather (material)
paste (glass)
plating (metal coating)
Ornament, Hair
Aigrette
Aigrette
"Mementos: Jewelry of Life and Love from Historic New England": Aigrettes, hair ornaments named after the egret feathers appended to them, were popular in the 1880s and 1890s for evening wear and formal parties. A member of the Phillips family wore this aigrette by inserting the long pins into her upswept hair.
"SHREVE / CRUMP & LOW / BOSTON." (Embossed)
Original to Phillips House (Salem, Mass.),
1735
Possibly Shreve, Crump & Low (Retailer)
Boston, MA
6 x 2 x 1/2 (HxWxD) (inches)
Gift of the Stephen Phillips Memorial Charitable Trust for Historic Preservation
2006.44.354.1-.2
"Jewelry at Historic New England," Online exhibit presented by Historic New England launched September 30, 2007 at www.historicnewengland.org/jewelryhistory/.
For more information on aigrettes see Fales, Martha Gandy, "Jewelry in America, 1600-1900," (1995): 316.
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