Charleston Loan Exhibition

33 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 Mary Stead Pinckney's request, her friend Mary Helen Hering Middleton (1772–1850) visited the shop of Jean Antoine Lépine (1720–1814), watch and clock maker to French kings and aristocrats. 1 After several alterations the design was finally amenable to Mrs. Middleton, as she wrote her friend in July of 1797 that “there was nothing newer or more fashionable to be had.” 2 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. BJO 1. Mary Helen Hering Middleton was the wife of Henry Middleton (1770–1846), son of Arthur Middleton (1742–1847). 2. Letter from Mary H. Middleton to Mary S. Pinckney, July 19, 1797, The Charleston Museum, Charleston, SC. Jean Antoine Lépine (French, 1720–1814) Macaroni with watch Paris, France, ca. 1797 Gold, pearls, enamel, agate and carnelian; steel and brass L. 9 ⁄/!^ inches Lent by The Charleston Museum, Charleston, SC, HQ 0184