Mastery of Design: A French Gold and Diamond "Aide-Mémoire," 19th C.

Notebook
French, Nineteenth Century
The Hull-Grundy Gift to
The British Museum

Known as an "aide-mémoire", this notebook with hinged covers of blue enamel on a guilloche ground is decorated with applied four-color gold trophies of gardening implements on one side and doves, and bows and arrows on the other. 

Each trophy is entwined with a gold ribbon and an inscription in rose diamonds set in silver.

The piece is clasped with a sliding gold pencil.  The interior sports three ivory leaves, each containing writing in French from its original Nineteenth Century owner.  

Gifts of Grandeur: Carnet-de-Bal With Miniatures of an Unknown Lady and Gentleman

Carnet-de-Bal
Circa 1790
French
Crown Copyright
The Royal Collection
Image Courtesy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

This carnet-de-bal (case for a dance card) was made between 1790 and 1795.  Many years later, on Christmas Day of 1937, the case was given to Queen Mary by Sir Philip Sassoon.

Her Majesty cataloged the carnet case as featuring portraits of "an unknown lady and gentleman."  

The case, constructed of gray enamel over gold is mounted with chased colored gold rims and, on the front and back, oval miniature portraits in enamels, set in diamond frames adorned with birds and flowers.  Inside, the case is fitted with an ivory tablet and pencil upon which a lady could write the order of the men with whom she would dance that night.

The gentleman can be identified vaguely as a Knight of St Louis.  In this bust-length portrait, he is facing forward and wearing a short gray wig, the blue uniform of his order with a breast-plate and the badge of the military Order of St Louis.

On the other side, the portrait of a lady presents her, also bust-length, facing forward.  She is wearing a pale blue dress with a large white bow.  Her powdered hair is tied with a blue ribbon.

We can deduce that the carnet case was made in France as The Order of St Louis was instituted by Louis XIV in 1693 as a means of rewarding officers distinguished either in military action or for long service. The style of the case and painting and the dress of the figures in the portraits suggest a date of the early 1790s.

Carnet-de-Bal
Crown Copyright
The Royal Collection
Image Courtesy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

Mastery of Design: A Brooch with a Cameo of Four Georges, c. 1820

Cameo Brooch with Four Georges
Crown Copyright
The Royal Collection
Image Courtesy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

Click on image for high resolution version.

The original part of this brooch, the cameo, was made by Rundell Bridge & Rundell in 1820.  The cameo of white on brown sardonyx was lifted from the top of, as the Royal Collection archives note, a "very elegant & richly chased Snuff Box with devices & Cameo of the four King Georges of England raised on Onyx set with Brilliant Ornaments & Crown' supplied to George IV by Rundell Bridge & Rundell ... on 21 October 1821 for £364."  The cameo is set on a matted yellow gold ground and is surmounted by a diamond-set crown.

Later set in red gold with an open-back brooch mount, the reverse of the cameo is engraved with the Garter motto HONI SOIT QUI MAL Y PENSE (Shame on him who thinks evil of it): ACCESSIT GEORGE I Aug 1 1714 GEORGE II June 11 1727 GEORGE III Oct 25 1760 GEORGE IV Jan 29 1820.

The silver wreath of rose-cut diamond laurel and palm leaves which was added to the cameo matches the laurel wreaths worn by Georges I-IV in the cameo profiles.

So, how did this cameo go from snuffbox to brooch?  And, when?  

The box, as presented to George IV in 1821, does not appear in the list of George IV’s snuffboxes sold by William IV to Rundells in 1830. Given that, the snuffbox was probably given to one of George IV’s "favorites" shortly after it was presented to him. It's most likely that the snuffbox was  dismantled and the lid converted into its present form as a brooch before its presentation to Queen Mary in July of 1893 as a wedding gift by Earl and Countess Cadogan.

Mastery if Design: A French Gold and Diamond "Aide-Mémoire," 19th C.

Notebook
French, Nineteenth Century
The Hull-Grundy Gift to
The British Museum

Known as an "aide-mémoire", this notebook with hinged covers of blue enamel on a guilloche ground is decorated with applied four-color gold trophies of gardening implements on one side and doves, and bows and arrows on the other. 

Each trophy is entwined with a gold ribbon and an inscription in rose diamonds set in silver.

The piece is clasped with a sliding gold pencil.  The interior sports three ivory leaves, each containing writing in French from its original Nineteenth Century owner.  

Mastery of Design: A Brooch with a Cameo of Four Georges, c. 1820

Cameo Brooch with Four Georges
Crown Copyright
The Royal Collection
Image Courtesy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

Click on image for high resolution version.

The original part of this brooch, the cameo, was made by Rundell Bridge & Rundell in 1820.  The cameo of white on brown sardonyx was lifted from the top of, as the Royal Collection archives note, a "very elegant & richly chased Snuff Box with devices & Cameo of the four King Georges of England raised on Onyx set with Brilliant Ornaments & Crown' supplied to George IV by Rundell Bridge & Rundell ... on 21 October 1821 for £364."  The cameo is set on a matted yellow gold ground and is surmounted by a diamond-set crown.

Later set in red gold with an open-back brooch mount, the reverse of the cameo is engraved with the Garter motto HONI SOIT QUI MAL Y PENSE (Shame on him who thinks evil of it): ACCESSIT GEORGE I Aug 1 1714 GEORGE II June 11 1727 GEORGE III Oct 25 1760 GEORGE IV Jan 29 1820.

The silver wreath of rose-cut diamond laurel and palm leaves which was added to the cameo matches the laurel wreaths worn by Georges I-IV in the cameo profiles.

So, how did this cameo go from snuffbox to brooch?  And, when?  

The box, as presented to George IV in 1821, does not appear in the list of George IV’s snuffboxes sold by William IV to Rundells in 1830. Given that, the snuffbox was probably given to one of George IV’s "favorites" shortly after it was presented to him. It's most likely that the snuffbox was  dismantled and the lid converted into its present form as a brooch before its presentation to Queen Mary in July of 1893 as a wedding gift by Earl and Countess Cadogan.

Mastery of Design: The Hull-Grundy Forget-Me-Not Tiara

Tiara
From the Hull Grundy Gift at The British Museum

Click image for detail.

Another brilliant piece from the Hull-Grundy Gift to The British Museum, we see this French-made tiara which was constructed of three-color gold.  The gold has been worked into elaborate swags of leaves and flowers.  These are surrounded by a large crest of forget-me-nots mounted in turquoises with diamond-set centers.

Originally, this piece was worn as a frontlet ornament.  In 1805, the French jewel was altered, probably in Italy, into its present form as a tiara.

Mastery of Design: Carnet-de-Bal With Miniatures of an Unknown Lady and Gentleman

Carnet-de-Bal
Circa 1790
French
Crown Copyright
The Royal Collection
Image Courtesy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

This carnet-de-bal (case for a dance card) was made between 1790 and 1795.  Many years later, on Christmas Day of 1937, the case was given to Queen Mary by Sir Philip Sassoon.

Her Majesty cataloged the carnet case as featuring portraits of "an unknown lady and gentleman."  

The case, constructed of gray enamel over gold is mounted with chased colored gold rims and, on the front and back, oval miniature portraits in enamels, set in diamond frames adorned with birds and flowers.  Inside, the case is fitted with an ivory tablet and pencil upon which a lady could write the order of the men with whom she would dance that night.

The gentleman can be identified vaguely as a Knight of St Louis.  In this bust-length portrait, he is facing forward and wearing a short gray wig, the blue uniform of his order with a breast-plate and the badge of the military Order of St Louis.

On the other side, the portrait of a lady presents her, also bust-length, facing forward.  She is wearing a pale blue dress with a large white bow.  Her powdered hair is tied with a blue ribbon.

We can deduce that the carnet case was made in France as The Order of St Louis was instituted by Louis XIV in 1693 as a means of rewarding officers distinguished either in military action or for long service. The style of the case and painting and the dress of the figures in the portraits suggest a date of the early 1790s.

Carnet-de-Bal
Crown Copyright
The Royal Collection
Image Courtesy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II