A wave of nationalism swept through Europe in the 19th century. In both long-established and newly independent countries, jewelers sought to evoke the glorious past in ornaments that expressed artistic, as well as political, meanings. Made during the reign of Britain’s Queen Victoria (1819–1901), this cameo necklace portrays Queen Elizabeth I (1533–1603), a reference to contemporary associations between these two powerful female monarchs. This necklace was designed by Mrs. Newman (Charlotte Newman), one of the earliest women to work as an independent jeweler in London. Celebrated lapidary artist Georges Bissinger carved the cameo pendant. The design for the mount that frames the cameo is purportedly based on a clasp of a bracelet that was once owned by Elizabeth I. However, it bears an uncanny resemblance to the clasp of a bracelet worn by Madame de Pompadour in a 1750 portrait by François Boucher that is now at Harvard Art Museums, which features a similarly framed cameo of Louis XV by the gemcarver Jacques Guay.