Children's Jewelry

[Lady Lowrye verch Jankyns]

My daughter (10) is wanting to add some things to her garb (that's her with me in our picture).  We aren't going for totally H/A but would like to get close.  What would children (merchant/noble class is what she is going for) would they have worn as far as jewelry accessories?  Hats?   Thanks!!

[gem]

Ooh, fun! Portrait research time! It's going to depend on the age of the child, the time period she's portraying, and the formality of the occasion.

Here's a nice Tudor family; the girl wears some jewelry:
http://www.wga.hu/art/b/bourdich/wealthy.jpg

These soberly dressed girls wear only the simplest of cord necklaces:
http://www.wga.hu/art/d/david/2/trompes2.jpg

...Although their stepsister has a nice jeweled girdle:
http://www.wga.hu/art/d/david/2/trompes4.jpg
(ETA; scratch that; that's the stepmom)

This infant girl has a billament (jewels) on her cap/coif, which I find quite fetching:
http://asimg.artsolution.net/tsmedia/WeissThephoto/Weiss692007T175118.jpg?qlt=75&ftr=8&effect=text,%25A9%2520Weiss%2520Gallery,Times%2520New%2520Roman,26,CCCCCC,100,Custom,tr,10,20,l,0,0,142,2,50,000000&cell=400,400&cvt=jpeg

These Danish royal children wear a variety of pieces:
http://www.royalcollection.org.uk/eGallery/object.asp?object=405782&row=0&detail=magnify

Here's a well-known portrait of a young de Medici girl:
http://www.wga.hu/art/b/bronzino/1/bia.jpg

And one of the most famous portraits of Queen Elizabeth as a young girl:
http://www.sempstress.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/youngeliza.jpg

I would say that merchant-class children are far less likely to have worn much jewelry, probably for the same reasons children *now* don't wear a lot of expensive jewelry, except when having their portraits done. Even many of the noble children in portraits here are painted without any jewelry at all... but if you're looking for a period look for your daughter, the links above should give you a good start!

ETA: You might also look into the Cheapside Hoard, an archaeological find of jewelry in 1912 London, which included many pieces more reflective of what Londoners of more middling means would have worn. Here's an excellent close-up image of several of the pieces:
http://www.emintelligencer.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/hoard.jpg

Charming and fascinating and absolutely period correct... but they don't really reflect what most people nowadays tend to think of as Renaissance jewelry, and I think they'd be much harder to replicate than some of the fancier pearl girdles &c!

Have fun!

[operafantomet]

For the most, children would be dressed rather similar to their elder siblings, I.E. as small adults. There are a few exceptions to this, though.

Smaller children tended to wear coral jewelry, partly because they could gnaw on them when teething, and partly because it was seen as a protection against evil. The coral could be used as it was, as a sort of "branchy" pendant, or it could be made into beads and wore as a necklace. Sometimes both were the case.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v31/operafantomet/renaissanceportraits/bronzino1545giovanni.jpg
http://polarbearstale.blogspot.com/2010/05/coral-for-babies.html


Here's a portrait of a young girl and what I assume is her mother. The mother wear pearls, while the younger girl wears corals:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v31/operafantomet/renaissanceportraits/venezia2/girolamoforni-giustidelgiardino.jpg

I suspect these girls also wears coral, though the colour seem a bit more red than usual:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v31/operafantomet/renaissanceportraits/venezia2/fasolo1560paologualdo2.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v31/operafantomet/renaissanceportraits/venezia2/fasolo1560paologualdo4.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v31/operafantomet/renaissanceportraits/firenze1/ghirlandaio1490-1.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Sofonisba_Anguissola_001.jpg

Here's a well-known portrait of a young de Medici girl:
http://www.wga.hu/art/b/bronzino/1/bia.jpg

What Bianca "Bia" di Cosimo de' Medici wears under the pearl necklace is actually a portrait of her father, duke Cosimo. This is important because Bia was an illegitimate daughter. But her father fully acknowledged her, and she grew up at the court with her legitimate siblings (Giovanni above was her younger brother). However, she died very young, probably before the portrait was painted, and making her wear her father's portrait would assure later generations that her status as an illegitimate daughter was only on paper. It was probably not something she used in everyday life.


A plain pearl necklace, maybe with a cross or a small pendant, was also in vogue:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v31/operafantomet/renaissanceportraits/venezia2/lotto1547voltafam.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v31/operafantomet/renaissanceportraits/venezia2/chiericati5.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v31/operafantomet/renaissanceportraits/venezia2/veronese1559emmauslouvre1.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v31/operafantomet/renaissanceportraits/parma/bedoli1560ssotherbys.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Infantas_Isabella_Clara_Eugenia_and_Catalina_Micaela_of_Spain.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Margot_001.jpg


As for other accessories, an apron would not be uncommon, even for noble children.

[Lady Lowrye verch Jankyns]

Thank you all so much!!!  I've had fun working on this for my daughter.  She had a lot of questions about the pictures I showed her from above. 

I've found a pearl necklace for her and need to pick up a cross to add to it.  She wants more items too (like my Medieval Moccasins).  I'm going to learn to sew so I can make a few items for her (please pray for my instructor, my mother in law, as she has tried to teach me before and well...)  I have a hat for her to wear (she's a bit unsure about wearing a hat, but I think she will like it once she starts wearing it) and I'm fixing her a basket to carry and will surprise her with that when we go to ORF for her birthday (it's going to have a pet dragon in it).