Name/Title
ChatelaineEntry/Object ID
L.2011.002.10Description
Macaroni with watch
Paris, France, ca. 1797
Gold, pearls, enamel, agate and carnelian; steel and brass
L. 9 1/16 inches
Lent by The Charleston Museum, Charleston, SC, HQ 0184
By the eighteenth century, women in the middle and upper classes adopted the fashion of wearing timepieces fastened at the waist to chatelaines, which would often have additional chains to suspend keys, corkscrews, scissors, penknives or sewing instruments. This particular style of chatelaine is called a "macaroni," after the Macaroni Club, a group of London dandies that in the 1770s wore watches and chains looped over their belts-although the accessory soon faded from men's fashion it continued to dominate ladies attire well into the nineteenth century. The watch on this macaroni was commissioned by Mary Stead Pinckney in 1797 for her thirteen-year-old niece, Eliza Izard Pinckney (1784-1862), whose initials "EI" appear engraved on a cipher.
On her friend's request, Mary Helen Hering Middleton (1772-1850)visited the shop of Jean Antoine Lépine (1720-1814), watch and clock maker to French kings and aristocrats. After several alterations, the design was finally amenable to Mary Helen Middleton, as she wrote her friend in July of 1797 that "there was nothing newer or more fashionable to be had." Pearls surround the white enamel dial and a gold back plate is decorated with emerald green enamel and an inlaid gold design. The watch fob has eight gold mesh chains holding two seals, one of agate and the other of carnelian, as well as the watch key and engraved cipher.Collection
The Charleston Museum C/O: Historic Charleston FoLexicon
Nomenclature 4.0
Nomenclature Primary Object Term
ChatelaineNomenclature Sub-Class
Clothing AccessoriesNomenclature Class
ClothingNomenclature Category
Category 03: Personal ObjectsIntake
Loan In
L.2011.002Lender
Dr. John Brumgardt, DirectorDate Received
Jan 12, 2011Date Returned
Feb 1, 2011Created By
admin@catalogit.appCreate Date
November 12, 2011Updated By
admin@catalogit.appUpdate Date
December 7, 2012