Lucy Bakewell Audubon (owned)
British-American, 1787-1874
Brooch, circa 1850
Human hair, gold
L.S. Tyler Collection, JJA.1938.1204
This is a brooch made with twisted and woven human hair. It is believed that these are the hairs of John James Audubon and his sons, Victor Gifford and John Woodhouse Audubon. The brooch consists of braided blonde hair set in an oval gold setting with a glass cover. Dark hair twisted into an open lattice form is woven through rings attached to the central setting. Three beads of similar dark twisted hair dangle from the bottom of the brooch. The hair beads have gold end caps.
The brooch was featured in the August 2020 post, “Recent Research: Hairwork in the Museum Collection,” on the Friends of Audubon blog.
Where can you view this object? As of the writing of this post, the brooch is located in Gallery A at the Audubon Museum.
Questions? Contact museum curator Heidi Taylor-Caudill at 502-782-9716 or [email protected].
