Nowadays, we mainly give jewellery to mark happy occasions – birthdays, Christmas, first communions, high school graduation, engagements, weddings and the like. But this was not always the case.
There was a time when jewellery was also worn by the deceased on the voyage from deathbed to afterlife, or by the survivors as a symbol of grief or in memory of a person. Jewellery has accompanied us, and still accompanies us in death – everything from a wedding ring to a toe tag. The special exhibition Macabre Masterpieces, hosted at Sønderborg Slot, Museum Sønderjylland during 2022, was an aesthetic introduction to the cultural history of Death, viewed in the context of jewellery and precious artefacts. Macabre Masterpieces challenged and commented on the various traditions of death, featuring new, original works created by some of the finest gold- and silversmiths as well as jewellery designers in Denmark. These Danish works were presented alongside both foreign and older works, highlighting interaction and dialogue over time. For the special exhibition, Rosing’s Dog Tag pendant made of 14 karat gold was selected as a modern interpretation of the military’s identification tag for soldiers.
