Mastery of Design: "The Queen of Transylvania" Tiara, 1958

Costume Tiara
Cecil Beaton, 1958
The Victoria & Albert Museum

This costume tiara was made for the character of the  “Queen of Transylvania” (as played by Margaret Halstan) in the London production of the musical “My Fair Lady,” at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane.  The show opened on April 30, 1958.

Based on George Bernard Shaw's play “Pygmalion,” the music for the famous musical was composed by Frederick Lowe, and the book and lyrics were by Alan Jay Lerner. The production was directed by Moss Hart (husband of my dear Kitty Carlisle Hart), the sets were designed by Oliver Smith, and the costumes were designed by the celebrated photographer Cecil Beaton.

The production starred Julie Andrews as Eliza Dolittle and Rex Harrison as Henry Higgins.

This bears a label for Margaret Halstan, who played the Queen throughout most of the London run for My Fair Lady. This is one of several tiaras designed for Halstan for the production.  Photographs from the show indicate different sixed crowns of different weights, allowing the actress flexibility in what she wore each night.  A silversmith made the tiaras, set with fine pastes, based on Beaton’s detailed designs.  

Mastery of Design: The Castellani Diadem, 1860

Diadem
Castellani, c. 1860
The Victoria & Albert Museum

The Italian jewelry firm of Castellani made this diadem around 1860 based on an Etruscan original which dated to about 300 B.C. The original is the Campana Collection in the Louvre.

This tiara was copied four more times with each of the copies remaining in private collections. This one was shown at the International Exhibition in London in 1862. There, the works of Castellani garnered much attention and acclaim. So many flocked to the Castellani exhibit, in fact, that a policeman was stationed outside of the display to control the crowds. Certainly, the diadem was the centerpiece of the group.

The piece is made of gold with open floral-work. It is set with pearls, and beads and features enameled, serrated leaves and beaded blue berries. 

Mastery of Design: Delhi Durbar Tiara, 1911

The Delhi Durbar Tiara
Made for H.M. Queen Mary
Garrard & Co., 1911
Crown Copyright
The Royal Collection 
Image Courtesy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

Queen Mary had decided that she and King George V needed different crowns when named Emperor and Empress of India than those they’d worn for their 1911 coronation.  She was told that the expense seemed unnecessary.  Her Majesty, then, went to her friends and asked them nicely to donate the diamonds and gemstones which were needed for these crowns.  She went back to the advisors and told them that the only cost would be the manufacture of the crowns, and, she got her way.

She also got a nice tiara out of the deal.  This tiara was made by Garrard & Co. in 1911 for the December 12 Delhi Durbar.  The tiara was constructed so that it could be hung with the Cambridge Emeralds or with pearls should the Queen desire.  Therefore, the piece is considered part of  the Queen’s parure of emeralds and diamonds which also included a necklace, stomacher, brooch and earrings.

The tiara a designed as a tall circlet of lyres and S-scrolls which are linked by festoons of rose-cut and brilliant-cut diamonds.  In 1912, the tiara was altered so that it could accommodate both of the two Lesser Stars of Africa – Cullinan III and IV.

Queen Mary lent the tiara to Queen Elizabeth in 1946 so that the Queen Mother could wear it during the 1947 South African Tour.  Following Queen Mary’s 1953 death, the Queen Mother kept the Durbar tiara in her own collection until her death in 2002. In 2005, it was lent by Queen Elizabeth II to The Duchess of Cornwall, wife of Prince Charles.

Mastery of Design: “The Oriental Circlet,” 1853

The Oriental Circlet
R. & S. Garrard & Co., 1853
Commissioned by Prince Albert
Gold, Diamonds and Rubies
Crown Copyright
The Royal Collection
Image Courtesy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

Following the Great Exhibition in 1850, Queen Victoria was presented with magnificent jewels from the East India Company. Both Victoria and her husband, Prince Albert were enchanted by the exotic designs of the gems she was given. Those gems inspired Prince Albert to commission the Royal Jewelers at R. and S. Garrard and Co. to create this diamond and ruby tiara for his wife. The circlet features a design of diamond-encrusted “Moghul” arches in an Indian style which surround diamond lotus flowers set with rubies.


Prince Albert often supervised the design of Queen Victoria’s jewels. She once wrote in her diary, “Albert has such taste and arranges everything for me about my jewels.” Having researched Queen Victoria’s enormous collection of jewels for many years, I will concur with the Queen’s assessment. Albert did an excellent job.

Crown Copyright
The Royal Collection

Click image to enlarge.

Gifts of Grandeur: The Caroline of Naples Tiara, 1808

The Caroline of Naples Tiara
Italy, 1808
The Victoria & Albert Museum

This gold tiara set with four lapis lazuli plaques inset with shells and pearls in pietre dure mosaic is believed to have belonged to Caroline Murat (1782-1839), Queen of Naples. Part of an impressive parure, the tiara shows the fine workmanship of its maker, Real Laboratorio of Naples, known for impressive suites of jewelry such as this. The parure is still kept in its original leather box which is stamped with a crowned “C” in gold. 

Some historians contend that the pietre dire panels were produced by the Opificio delle Pietre Dure in Florence while the gold work was finished in Naples. The Grand Ducal Workshop, Opificio delle Pietre Dure, was founded in 1588 and still operates today under the Italian Ministry for Cultural Heritage.

The suite consists of a matching necklace, earrings and comb in addition to the magnificent tiara.

Mastery of Design: The Countess Portman Oak Parure

Diamond Oak Leaf Parure
From the Hull Grundy Gift
This and all related images from:
The British Museum

All images can be enlarged by clicking on them.

Something about the description for this magnificent jewel in the collection of The British Museum put me in mind of "The Phantom of the Opera."  However, instead of a "chandelier in pieces," here, we have a tiara in three pieces.  

The diamonds are set, open-back, with silver prongs on a structure of gold which takes the form of branches of oak leaves and acorns.  

The three diamond sections can be worn mounted to two tortoise-shell combs, hooked together on a special mount as a brooch or on the golden crown frame as a tiara.  The various parts are still housed in their original case from the jeweler:  Hunt & Roskell, 156 New Bond Street.  The jewelled elements are interchangeable between the combs, the brooch-frame and the tiara. The lid of the case is stamped with a Viscount's coronet and the initials MP."

This suite is part of the Hull-Grundy gift to The British Museum which we've been examining these past few days.  

Text from catalogue of the Hull Grundy Gift tells us:

This set was sold at Sotheby's in 1970 (19 March, lot 140) with its original case. The gold initials and coronet on the lid suggest that the tiara may once have been owned by Mary Selina Charlotte Portman, daughter of Viscount Milton and wife of William Henry Berkeley, 2nd Viscount Portman; she was married on 1 June, 1855, and died in 1899.

Mastery of Design: The Winged Tortoise Comb, 1900

Comb adapted from a tiara, 1900
Tortoise shell, pearls and diamonds in gold and silver.
French
This and all related images from the:
Victoria & Albert Museum

Here’s another lovely item which I’d like to own.  But, of course, it’s in the V&A.  Here, we see the head of a winged comb.  Originally, this was made as the crest of a tiara,  but in 1900, it was adapted to be worn as a comb at the rear of a lady’s head, as was the style of the time.  A creation of bleached tortoise-shell, it features gold and silver mounts set with rose-and brilliant-cut diamonds and pearls.  Sadly, the comb teeth are missing.

This and the original tiara were created in France by an unknown jeweler.  

Mastery of Design: The Carbuncle Tiara

The British Museum

Click image to enlarge.

Made circa 1850 in England, this regal tiara of bloomed and chased two-color gold is set with cabochon garnets and takes the from of a floral half-circlet.

A brilliant representative of the style of the time, this is among the many jewels bequeathed to The British Museum by Professor John and Anne Hull Grundy in 1978.  

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: The Countess Portman Oak Parure

Diamond Oak Leaf Parure
From the Hull Grundy Gift
This and all related images from:
The British Museum

All images can be enlarged by clicking on them.

Something about the description for this magnificent jewel in the collection of The British Museum put me in mind of "The Phantom of the Opera."  However, instead of a "chandelier in pieces," here, we have a tiara in three pieces.  

The diamonds are set, open-back, with silver prongs on a structure of gold which takes the form of branches of oak leaves and acorns.  

The three diamond sections can be worn mounted to two tortoise-shell combs, hooked together on a special mount as a brooch or on the golden crown frame as a tiara.  The various parts are still housed in their original case from the jeweler:  Hunt & Roskell, 156 New Bond Street.  The jewelled elements are interchangeable between the combs, the brooch-frame and the tiara. The lid of the case is stamped with a Viscount's coronet and the initials MP."

This suite is part of the Hull-Grundy gift to The British Museum which we've been examining these past few days.  

Text from catalogue of the Hull Grundy Gift tells us:

This set was sold at Sotheby's in 1970 (19 March, lot 140) with its original case. The gold initials and coronet on the lid suggest that the tiara may once have been owned by Mary Selina Charlotte Portman, daughter of Viscount Milton and wife of William Henry Berkeley, 2nd Viscount Portman; she was married on 1 June, 1855, and died in 1899.

Mastery of Design: Queen Elizabeth II’s Aquamarine and Diamond Tiara, 1957

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II happens to have quite a few tiaras at her disposal. She also happens to wear all of them, though not at once. A good many of them were gifts—particularly from her grandmother, Mary of Teck. This particular one wasn’t a gift, per se, but it was crafted from several gifts given to the Queen for her 1953 coronation.

Aquamarine and Diamond Tiara
1957-1971
Adapted by R. & S. Garrard & Co.
The Royal Collection

When originally constructed in 1957, this tiara featured three upright stones which matched the central portion of the tiara. All three were detachable and could be worn as brooches. The stones rose gracefully from a simple platinum and diamond band.

As a Coronation gift from the people of Brazil, Queen Elizabeth II was given a luxurious suite of aquamarine pieces. In 1971, the Queen had several of these aquamarine pieces adapted into additions to this tiara. The two flanking stones were removed in favor of these aquamarine and diamond scrolls and the central stone was replaced with the centerpiece from a particularly beautiful diamond and aquamarine necklace from the Brazilian suite.

The resulting tiara incorporates the original head-band with these adapted pieces, creating an unusual work of dazzling blue and sparkling diamonds. Her majesty frequently wears this tiara with the remaining pieces from the Brazilian suite and other items from her collection of aquamarines.

Mastery of Design: The Cambridge Lovers Knot Tiara

The Cambridge Lover's Knot Tiara, as it has been since 1910
Crown Copyright
The Royal Collection

The original tiara, 1818
on Princess Augusta of Hesse-Kassel

Queen Mary is often depicted wearing her most fabulous jewels—and she had a lot of them, a lot. One of the most frequently worn pieces in which she’s pictured is a fantastic tiara of diamonds and pearls. This is the Cambridge Lovers Knot Tiara and it was Queen Mary’s favorite.
The tiara that Queen Mary often wore was not the original Cambridge Lovers Knot Tiara, but one that she had created for her in 1913 from diamonds and pearls in her own existing collection.

Growing up as Princess May, Mary had often admired her grandmother’s tiara—the original Cambridge Lovers Knot Tiara. This had been a gift to Mary’s grandmother, Princess Augusta of Hesse-Kassel upon her marriage to the Duke of Cambridge. Upon her death, Princess Augusta passed the tiara on to her daughter Princess Augusta of Cambridge, the Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg . The Grand Duchess, sister of Mary’s mother, was one of Queen Mary’s closest friends. She often loaned the tiara to Queen Mary. However, after the Duchess’ death, the tiara was removed from the family through a long and complicated series of events which are too difficult to recount here.

The original tiara on
Augusta, Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg

Queen Mary never forgot about that beloved tiara and in 1913 commissioned Garrard’s to create a duplicate based on paintings and photos. The one difference between the new version and the original is that the upper tier of pearl and diamond “spikes” could be removed and worn as various other pieces of jewelry. Queen Mary wore the tiara (with and without its upper tier) for the remainder of her life, bequeathing it to her granddaughter, Queen Elizabeth II.

Queen mary in the New 1914 Tiara
(with spikes)

Queen Mary in the new tiara
(without spikes)

Object of the Day, Museum Edition: The Castellani Diadem, 1860

Diadem
Castellani, c. 1860
The Victoria & Albert Museum

The Italian jewelry firm of Castellani made this diadem around 1860 based on an Etruscan original which dated to about 300 B.C. The original is the Campana Collection in the Louvre.

This tiara was copied four more times with each of the copies remaining in private collections. This one was shown at the International Exhibition in London in 1862. There, the works of Castellani garnered much attention and acclaim. So many flocked to the Castellani exhibit, in fact, that a policeman was stationed outside of the display to control the crowds. Certainly, the diadem was the centerpiece of the group.

The piece is made of gold with open floral-work. It is set with pearls, and beads and features enameled, serrated leaves and beaded blue berries. 

Mastery of Design: A Diamond and Ruby Tiara, 1835

Ruby and Diamond Tiara
1835
Western Europe
The Victoria & Albert Museum

This masterpiece of diamonds set in silver on a gold frame is similar in spirit. This one, however, adds shimmering bright rubies to the mix of brilliant-cut and rose-cut diamonds.


For such a tiara to survive is quite rare. Usually floral tiaras were broken apart in the late early Twentieth Century and made into brooches. This one has only had one adaptation. The frame was slightly altered so that it could be worn as a necklace.

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