Gifts of Grandeur: A Ruby and Diamond Brooch

Brooch
Gold, Metal, Diamonds and Rubies
1910-1920
The Victoria & Albert Museum

This beautiful brooch is caught between two eras. The upper portion is clearly rooted in Art Nouveau sensibilities with its symmetrical curvilinear crest. The lower part of the brooch, however, speaks of Art Deco ideals with its gently tapered, angular base—long and pointed, and set with contrasting diamonds and rubies.


The brooch was made sometime between 1910 and 1920—thus accounting for its combination of styles. It truly is a transitional design, and, really, quite an attractive one. Backed in gold, the diamonds and rubies are set in what is described simply as “white metal.” The maker of the brooch is unknown and there’s some debate as to whether it comes from the U.S. or from Europe. It is housed in Jewelry Room Ninety-One at the V&A.

Unfolding Pictures: An Early Florentine Straw Fan, 1620

Brisé Fan
Silk, Straw, Cardboard, Metal, Gold Paper, Thread
Florence, 1620
The Victoria & Albert Museum

After the Royal Collection’s huge assortment of fans (mostly acquired by Queen Alexandra and, especially, Mary of Teck), the Victoria and Albert Museum has, perhaps, the largest collection of fans in the U.K. This unusual brisé fan is the earliest fan in the collection of the V&A.


So, what does brisé mean? The term “brisé” refers to a fan that has sticks but no fan leaf. Essentially, the widest part of the fan is comprised of the sticks which have been designed to be fatter at the top than the bottom.

This early example is comprised of seven sticks. Each stick is formed to mimic the look of a curled ostrich feather. While it would have been easier to attach real feathers to the sticks, the unknown fan-maker has sought to show his mastery of his craft by replicating the feathers in different media. Each stick is attached by a green silk ribbon, and each is covered with green silk and adorned with very small pieces of straw. The straw has been arranged to make a rough mosaic in a pattern of birds and flowers. The curators of the V&A believe that this fan comes from the Italian city of Florence—known as a center for this craft in the early Seventeenth Century.

Mastery of Design: The Parrot Ring, 1850

Ring
Calcutta, 1850
Gold, Sapphire, Rubies, Garnet
The Victoria and Albert Museum

This is an exceptional piece, made in India in 1850. It features a fully-sculpted parrot (carved from a single sapphire and set with rubies and a garnet) perched atop a band of gold.


Purchased by the Indian Museum in London in 1855, the ring was purported as having been made in "Bengal.” At the time, the term “Bengal” referred to the overall “Begnal Presidency” which comprised a vastly larger area than present-day Bengal. In light of that, historians feel the ring was crafted in Calcutta which, at the time, was considered part of “Bengal.” Calucutta was a major hub of the arts in the Nineteenth Century, and the location for makers of opulent and highly-desirable jewelry made in the British and European style for export.

The ring appears to be an Eastern adaptation of traditional European rings (especially those from Ireland and Wales) which included a visual motif of two hands clasping one another—a symbol of love or friendship. The theme of friendship is rather lost in this retelling of the classic visual tradition, as the maker has inaccurately rendered the design. The gold hands, joined at the wrist, atop the gold band, face away from each other instead of touching one another. Perhaps this change was made to accommodate the true centerpiece of the ring—the parrot. While the “hands” motif seems an afterthought, the bird has been carefully rendered. He perches atop the hands, glittering blue from the single sapphire from which he is carved. His ruby eyes glint in contrast against his smooth blue body as does his beak—carved from an impressive almandine garnet.

Unusual Artifacts: A Silk Program from a Coronation Concert, 1911

Silk Programme
English, 1911
The Victoria & Albert Museum

British coronations are always days-long events marked by much celebration and a series of events, both formal and otherwise, in honor of the new monarch. The 1911 coronation of King George and Queen Mary was no exception. Parties, festivals and even command performances aided in the celebration of the coronation. Some souvenirs of these still exist.

In the late Nineteenth Century, the tradition of producing programs for special occasions on silk rose in popularity. These items were thought to be more elegant and longer lasting than their more ephemeral paper counterparts.

Here, we see a program (programme) of cream silk with medium-blue typography, surrounded with an elaborate border of yellow, pink, green, brown and blue, surmounted by a lion and unicorn crest at top. To the whole, a cream was fringe applied. Oval portraits of King George V and Queen Mary are nestled at each top corner. The program states that it was produced for “A State Performance in Honour of the Coronation of King George V and Queen Mary' with Acts from 'Aida', 'Romeo et Juliette', 'Il Barbiere di Siviglia' and 'Le Pavillon D'Armide', Royal Opera Covent Garden, 26th June 1911.”

Such items were meant to be preserved. Luckily, the recipient of this program understood that. A rare piece, it is housed in the Victoria & Albert Museum.

Punch's Cousin, Chapter 282

Iolanthe Evangeline breathed heavily and noisily as she entered Marie Laveau’s house, refusing to be seated and sharply stating she wanted no refreshments.


“I wouldn’t mind a whiskey.” Ulrika cooed.

“Certainly, Miss Rittenhouse,” Marie oozed false politeness.

“No!” Iolanthe bellowed.

“What harm can it do?” Ulrika whined.

“I’ll do plenty of harm to ya if you don’t shut your mouth,” Iolanthe spat.

“Really, Iolanthe, you’re going to give yourself apoplexy if you don’t try to quiet your nerves.” Ulrika shook her head.

“Your fire-haired friend is correct, Woman.” Marie Laveau grinned. “Wouldn’t that be an awful shame?”

“Where’d you get that baby?” Iolanthe snapped, ignoring the two other women.

“I have my ways.” Marie winked. “Just like you got, only better.”

“It is Edward Cage’s child, isn’t it?” Iolanthe growled.

“Now, that’s a matter of opinion.” Marie shrugged. “The boy done lived with a lot of folk, I reckon. Seems to me, he’s the child of the home that he lives in. So, I guess that makes him my child now.”

“What do you want with him?” Iolanthe asked angrily. “What’s any of this got to do with you?”

“Well, seems I got myself hurt because of this child. Seems that I been terribly put-out by this whole thing. I reckon lots of folks want that little boy. I know that the Duke wants him. Wants him enough to make his servants do unspeakable things to innocent folks such as myself. I know other folk want the boy, too. Shall we make a list of them, Iolanthe? Let’s see, there’s the Duke, and Mr. Cage, and you, and the babe’s own mama—that Barbara Allen. And, speakin’ of Miss Allen, ain’t it a pity that it didn’t work out with the two of ya? Pretty girl. Would have made a lot of money for ya, no doubt. Seems you got trouble keepin’ your girls, don’t it? Yes. It sure seems that way. Sad. But, you got one that’s loyal. That one with the face of a goat—Mala.”

“I will not allow you to ruffle me, Marie.” Iolanthe shook her head.

“Looks like you done already been ruffled, Woman.” Marie shrugged.

“You, Marie, are just like me. You’re a steely woman of business and you know what’s best for your profits. You know I already promised that boy to someone else and that I been paid handsomely for it. Now, I may be a lot of things, but I ain’t a woman who goes back on her promises—once I make ‘em. And, I don’t want you thinkin’ that I am. That boy is the son of Edward Cage. Mr. Cage has done paid me for him and all. And, I aim to see that Mr. Cage gets what he paid for. So, you’ll just step aside and let me take from you what ain’t yours.’

“I really would like a whiskey,” Ulrika interrupted.

“Quiet!” Iolanthe snarled.

“Fine,” Ulrika snorted.

“Now, Iolanthe,” Marie laughed. “What makes you think I aim to keep the child?”

“Don’t you?” Iolanthe narrowed her eyes.

“Of course not!” Marie grinned. “I got him back for you, didn’t I? We may have had our quarrels and disappointments, Iolanthe, but, as you say, I’m a woman of business. I know what’s important and what ain’t, and my first loyalty is to them folk like me.”

“Then, step aside, and let me take the child.” Iolanthe said firmly.

“Not so fast, Iolanthe.” Marie shook her head. “I’m gonna let you have him, but first you gotta do somethin’ for me.”

At that very moment, Adrienne, Marjani and Robert watched as Julian’s unconscious body began to spasm and thrash about, making guttural gasping sounds as it tried to draw in air.

“He’s choking!” Adrienne screamed.

“On what?” Marjani rushed to Punch’s/Julian’s side.

“Help me turn him on his side.” Robert ordered.

The three of them turned Julian on his side and Robert tried to clear any obstructions from Julian’s throat. Finding no such impediment to the man’s breathing, Robert exclaimed. “He’s not choking. It’s as if he’s being strangled!”

“I don’t understand.” Adrienne wring her hands.

“Like a hangin’.” Marjani nodded slowly.

Robert knelt down beside his friend. “Mr. Punch! Listen to me! Punch is not hanged, you know that! He hangs the hangman!”

Suddenly, Julian’s body became still.

“Is he breathing?” Adrienne asked.

“No.” Robert shouted.



Did you miss Chapters 1-281? If so, you can read them here.

Card of the Day: The Railway Centenary Exhibition

You are a member of the British Royal Family. We are never tired, and we all love hospitals.

--Queen Mary to her son, the Prince of Wales (King Edward VIII) following the Great War.

Post-World War I, King George V and Queen Mary set about on a decided campaign of trying to bring the empire back to a sense of normalcy. As much as they could, they encouraged the nation to both grieve and repair, and attempted to remind the British people of the myriad accomplishments that wanted celebration.

By this point, of course, the King was exhausted. Physically, he never really recovered from the war, but he carried on—fervently supported by his wife who ensured, as best should could, his continued enthusiasm, if not strength--until 1937. Queen Mary had a strong and understandable dislike for sick people (owing to her unpleasant paralyzed grandmother, The Duchess of Cambridge, as well as her own fears during the illness of her father, the Duke of Teck, while the family lived in exile in Florence when Mary was a teenager). So, I can’t imagine what Mary was feeling as she traveled with her increasingly infirm husband. Queen Mary loved one thing above all else, however—Great Britain. And, so, I’m sure she was willing to make any necessary sacrifice to ensure the comfort of her people.

As part of this campaign, the King and Queen helped to celebrate the one hundredth anniversary of the British railway system. Since their time was limited, they enlisted the Duke and Duchess of York (the future King George VI and Queen Mother) to attend as the ambassadors of the Royal Family. This event is captured in the twenty-fourth in the series of Silver Jubilee cards produced in 1935 by Wills’s Cigarette Company, shortly before the King’s death.

The reverse of the card reads:

THE RAILWAY CENTENARY EXHIBITION


Over the route between Stockton and Darlington on which a century before, the first passenger train its fitful run, there passed on July 2nd, 1925, a procession of engines and rolling stock which summarized a hundred years of railway progress. The Duke and Duchess of York were the chief guests at the centenary, and from a point between the two towns, watched some of the earliest locomotives labour slowly past, drawing wagon-loads of passengers, wearing the dresses of 1825. These old warriors of the day of Stephenson, Hackworth, Trevithick and Watt had a “guard of honor” of some of the finest modern locomotives on the railroads.

Object of the Day: A Souvenir of the Coronation that Never Happened, 1937

Of course, I do have a slight advantage over the rest of you. It helps in a pinch to be able to remind your bride that you gave up a throne for her.
--King Edward VIII/The Duke of Windsor, 1938

Oh, he was a caution. So, we all know what happened when King Edward VIII succeeded his late father, George V. The one-time Prince of Wales was more interested in good times with Wallis Simpson than he was with the Crown. And, of course, we all know that he never reached his coronation, instead the date being used for the coronation of Edward’s brother, “Bertie” who became King George VI.

As I’ve said before, King Edward VIII souvenirs are rather hard to come by. The majority of them were destroyed to make way for George VI souvenirs. The ones that do survive had already been purchased by families eager to show their support for the new King and their enthusiasm about a national event.

In collecting Royal souvenirs, I’ve seen many cups, beakers, mugs, saucers and plates. I’ve also seen shaving mugs, tea pots, trading cards, biscuit jars, medals, linens and paperweights. But, for some reason, I’ve never seen a bowl before—until this past weekend when I was given this very charming bowl, simply marked, “Made in England”, from 1937 for the coronation that didn’t happen.

I’m guessing that this is actually a child’s feeding bowl. I base that on the depth of the vessel and it’s height. Of course, when I saw it, I declared to my mother and father, “Look, it’s an Edward VIII dog dish.” That somehow seemed fitting, but also unlikely. Whatever it is, I’m quite tickled by it, and its joined the dozens of other Royal souvenirs which pepper my study.