Eye Miniature Painting Set in a Pendant c.1800. Photo Courtesy of the Victoria and Albert Museum Collection

A "lover's eye" miniature is a painted miniature of the giver's eye, presented to a loved one. These often included a hair compartment on the reverse. The notion accompanying this very short lived fad (c. second half of the eighteenth century) was that the eye would be recognizable only to the recipient and could therefore be worn publicly keeping the lover's identity a secret. The miniatures were set in rings, pendants, brooches and lockets.

This custom is believed to have begun in the late Eighteenth Century with George IV prior to his coronation. In order to keep his romance with Maria Fitzherbert, a widow, secret from the disapproving court, an eye miniature was conceived of and painted by a court miniaturist. In the early nineteenth century these evolved into a form of memorial jewelry called 'tear jewelry'. The purpose of the eye portrait was now a remembrance. Decorated with a tear or depicted as gazing through clouds, the miniatures evoked sentiment.

These very personal love tokens are very rare and highly prized.