According to Margaret Flower Victorian pendants took the following forms:

1837-1842 – Pendants

• Cross suspended from a heart.
• Small gold crosses worn hanging from strings of pearls.
• Flowers, birds, and butterflies in seed-pearls or jewels or gold.
• Maltese cross in blue enamel and diamonds.
• Small round lockets with inscriptions and a lock of hair.

1842-1860 – Larger Jewelled Pendants

• Serpent and Leaf Pendants
  • Carbuncles and diamonds.
  • Turquoise, enamel and diamonds.
  • Crosses in gold and amethyst, carved ivory, carved or polished coral.
  • Oval lockets of chased gold.
  • Enamel lockets with diamond flowers or insects.

1860 – Pendants

• Richly jewelled pendants hung from strings of pearls.
• Emeralds, rubies or other precious stones surrounded by pearls with a pearl drop.
• Jewelled and enamelled pendants with matching chains.
• Jewels showing Renaissance influence.
• Jewels of classical inspiration.

1878

• Diamonds, or pearls and diamonds together, in more delicate patterns with smaller pendants, began to replace the rich jewels of the previous decade.
• Latin, Greek, Irish, or Maltese Crosses of gold, silver, and precious stones, pique, jet, or glass.

1868 – Lockets

• Jewelled oval and gold lockets with monograms, stars, crosses, garters, cable chains, cupids, butterflies, cameos, hearts, flowers, urns, and torches.

1885-1890 – Lockets

• Small oval lockets in plain gold with monogram or seed-pearl or diamond star, and/or enamel.

1885-1901 -Pendants

• Diamond crosses on diamond chains, pearl hearts, stars and daises on pearl necklaces.
• Openwork pendants in jewels and enamel.

1890

• Ornamental crosses in a new and freer style.
• Moonstone hearts bordered by diamonds.
• Cluster composed of a large pearl framed in a double row of diamonds.
• Pearl crescent and star.
• Pavé-set pearl and diamond hearts.
• Diamond cluster with spear points.

1894

• Pendants by Ashbee

1901

• Art Nouveau pendants.²

Twentieth Century pendants ran the gamut from sinuous Art Nouveay to clunky “hippie” plaques.

Art Nouveau pendants followed the forms for all Art Nouveau jewelry. These included sinuous lines, reptiles, birds, grotesques and mermaids, landscapes and seasons, and the female form. The materials most often included enamel, especially plique-à-jour. Opals were a favorite gemstone because of their shifting hues and transformative nature. Horn was a unique material of the period carved into sinuous designs. Ivory was favored as a non-precious material that could be shaped and sculpted. ³3

1900-1920

As chronicled in Understanding Jewellery, pendants were pierced with lattice patterns decorated by geometric designs, ribbons bows, and flowers. Guilloche enamel was often employed to set off these delicate designs by placing a plaque behind the fine work. Pendants formed as garlands, bows, lozenge shapes, and folded pocket squares were decorated by diamonds and pearls. Peridot, turquoise, amethyst, and seed pearl were used on pendants less dear.

1920-1980

Long chains suspended pendants formed as tassels (sometimes composed of beads,)  open onyx or rock crystal shapes sported delicate diamond motifs. An international inspiration resulted in  Chinese, Indian, Egyptian, Japanese, and African stylings for pendants suspended by longchains. Geometric/mechanical plaque designs with enamel or hardstone shapes were a favorite with the bijoutiers-joailliers. As the fashion changed in the 1930s shorter necklaces resulted in pendants being incorporated into necklaces.

The fashion for pendants within a necklace design continued until the 1970s when the sautoir emerged from obscurity with big, bold pendants. Often carved from hardstone, coral, lapis lazuli, onyx, wood, and rock crystal, they were suspended from chains with coordinating link shapes. A convertible aspect allowed them to be detached and worn as brooches.⁴