Pendants

A pendant is an ornament that is suspended from another piece of jewelry such as a necklace, neck chain, ribbon, brooch, bracelet, or earring. Pendants take many forms including large gems or pearls, cameos, crosses, lockets, amulets, or watches. Amulets as pendants have been most significant as one of the first forms of prehistoric jewelry. As pendants, amulets retain an unprecedented popularity in the early twenty-first century as good luck charms, as talismans, and as protection from the evil eye or any number of other perceived disasters or supernatural forces. Pendants are frequently made to be detachable so they might be used on different necklaces, or made with a pin-back so they might also be worn as a brooch.

Religious Symbolism

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The cross or cruciform shape is an important type of pendant in religious and amuletic categories of jewelry that has been worn since the development of early Christianity. It can carry ornamental, protective, and devotional or religious meanings. Wearing a cross can visually signify a person's religious affiliation, and different shapes of crosses can symbolize different branches or subcults of Christianity. A crucifix is a type of cross showing Christ's crucified body, worn predominantly today by religious clergy. Crosses have been made from various precious and nonprecious materials to suit a wide range of styles, tastes, and economic standings. Crosses in the Middle Ages and Renaissance were made as reliquary pendants to hold what was believed to be a relic of the true crucifix. In contemporary Western Christianity, small gold crosses on a chain are important gifts for a child's christening or first communion. Crosses have also been worn as charms or amulets to ward off evil or to protect the wearer from disease. For example, small gold crosses made with coral beads are worn in southern Italy today as an amulet that combines the amuletic protection of red coral against the evil eye with the symbolism of Christianity. This cross is seen as more socially acceptable than wearing the red or gold horn amulet called a corno. In the late twentieth century the cross has been appropriated as a trendy sub- or popular culture motif worn without religious overtones or with a sense of defiance against its traditional symbolism. Other types of personal pendants that might be worn to signify religious affiliation include the Roman Catholic saints' medals, the Jewish Star of David, the Islamic Hand of Fatima, the Hindu Om mantra symbol, or the phylactery or amulet case worn in Jewish, Islamic, and Tibetan Buddhist religions. This last example is a small decorated metal box enclosing a prayer or scripture passage written on paper.

Lockets

A locket is a small pendant in the form of a flat, round, or oval case with a hinged cover, worn usually on a neck chain or suspended from a necklace of various styles. It is worn as a sentimental piece, meant to hold a memento such as a lock of hair, a photograph, or, before the invention of photography, a miniature portrait painted on ivory. They are made from various metals and with diverse techniques, often set with gemstones and engraved or enameled. Early lockets were worn as devotional or reliquary jewelry, made in the Middle Ages and renaissance to hold a saint's relic. In the sixteenth century, monarchs like Elizabeth I often presented gifts of lockets holding their portrait to favored courtiers. One famous example of a commemorative type of locket is Elizabeth's "Armada Jewel" (circa 1588) with a cast gold and enameled profile portrait of her on the front and an enameled depiction of Noah's Ark on the back, made to celebrate England's victory over the Spanish Armada. Lockets were very popular in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and this continued into the twentieth after photography was developed. Nineteenth-century Victorian lockets were an important betrothal gift or sentimental gift of personal devotion. Lockets were frequently made as watchcases for men and worn suspended on a watch chain or fob.