n.
Ornament suspended from a bracelet, earring, or necklace and derived from the primitive practice of wearing amulets or talismans around the neck.
The practice dates from the Stone Age, when pendants consisted of objects such as teeth, stones, and shells. Commemorative and decorative pendants were common in ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome. In the Middle Ages reliquaries, or devotional pendants, and crosses were created with jewels. By the beginning of the 16th century, Renaissance artists were creating pendants for decorative rather than religious use. The late 19th-century Art Nouveau movement often featured women's figures, butterflies, or flowers on pendants.
Art Nouveau pendant by L. Gautrait, c. 1900; in the Schmuckmuseum, Pforzheim, Ger.
By courtesy of the Schmuckmuseum, Pforzheim, Ger.