A collection of English memorial jewels, late 17th - mid 18th centuriesComprising: twenty-two slides, two pendants and one brooch, most set throughout with strands or grounds of plaited hair and overlaid with gilt wire initials or monograms, all beneath faceted paste in closed back settings, mounted in gold, some inscribed to the reverse, the heart-shaped brooch inscribed, In/ Memory of/ of my Moth/ er who dyed/ 28/ Nov 1728/ Aged 34, the most elaborate slide decorated with the skeleton of a torso between putti and a winged angel's head, on a plinth inscribed, COME YE BLESSED, all in polychrome enamel with gilt wire initials and ropetwist decoration over plaited hair, beneath a rose-cut paste cover, one slide with a goldsmith's mark WN, lengths: 1.4cm - 2.9cm (25)注脚During the 17th century in England, the population was decimated by the Civil War and successive outbreaks of fever, plague and smallpox. In 1665, bills of mortality, posted in London during a serious outbreak of the Black Death, were decorated with skulls and crossbones. Slides for wear around the neck or wrist were particularly popular and featured many of the same motifs. They often included panels of woven hair and the gilt-wire initials or monogram of the deceased beneath faceted rock crystal or paste.