Sotheby’s will be showing fifty tiaras from British aristocratic families as part of their Jubilee Arts Festival celebrating the 70th anniversary since Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation. The ‘Power & Image: Royal & Aristocratic Tiaras’ exhibition runs from May 28th to June 15th and is free to attend. You can find out more about visiting here. In addition to the aristocratic tiaras on display there will be contemporary tiaras by British jewelers available for sale.
THE FÜRSTENBERG TIARA HITS THE AUCTION BLOCK AT CHRISTIE’S
A very versatile tiara from a European princely collection will be sold next week at Christie’s in Geneva next week—and we’ve got all the details on the sparkling jewel!
The diamond and pearl tiara dates to the nineteenth century. It was originally part of the jewelry collection of the Prince and Princess of Fürstenberg, heads of a princely house from Germany. You’ll recognize the von Fürstenberg name from some of its more famous bearers. Members of the extended family include the socialite Ira von Fürstenberg, fashion designer Diane von Fürstenberg (who was married to a member of the family), and Alexandra von Fürstenberg (sister of Crown Princess Marie-Chantal of Greece, and also a former wife of a member of the extended family).
And other gemstones could be placed where the pearls would normally sit as well. Here, in a portrait painted by that master Philip de Laszlo, Princess Irma wears the all-diamond version of the tiara with a large emerald addition. The picture was painted around 1899.
The auction house also demonstrates how the diamond sections look when removed from the frame and placed in a necklace setting. Each individual diamond element can be worn separately as a brooch or a hairpin.
Here’s one more look at the way the necklace would sit when worn. The remarkable jewel is being offered for sale by “a lady of title.” It will be auctioned in Geneva on May 11, and the estimate is currently set at 400,000-600,000 Swiss francs (about $408,000-613,000 USD). Which royal lady do you think this tiara would suit best?
The theme of this year’s Met Gala and accompanying exhibition is ‘In America: An Anthology of Fashion’ which apparently means they are taking inspiration from the Gilded Age (∼1870-1900) in the United States. According to the invitations, the dress code is 'gilded glamour, white tie.’ We usually see at least a couple of tiaras at the Met Gala but this year I’m hoping for a lot of them!
Tiaras were very popular for wealthy women in the Gilded Age which I love because most people think that tiaras are just for royalty and that is not true at all. The trouble is that non-royal tiaras are so much more difficult to find information about than their royal counterparts and I’m always on a mission for info into American tiaras. Here’s a few Gilded Age tiaras to get us exited!
Mary-Louise Hungerford MacKay’s Trefoil Arabesque Tiara by Boucheron, 1889
Alva Smith Vanderbilt’s Pearl Tiara by Boucheron, 1890
Julia Kemp’s Diamond Tiara by Tiffany & Co., 1894
Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney’s Diamond Tiara by Boucheron, 1896
Cornelia Sherman Martin’s Diamond Flame Tiara, before 1897
JP Morgan’s Diamond Winged Tiara by Cartier, 1901 (I’m assuming he bought this for someone else and wasn’t just wearing it around the house but you never know)
Lila Vanderbilt Sloane Field’s Diamond Tiara by Cartier, 1902
Mary Morgan Burn’s Ruby Tiara by Boucheron, 1903
Harry Payne Whitney’s Wreath Tiara by Cartier (I assume he bought this for his wife, Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, but his sister-in-law, Gladys Vanderbilt Széchenyi, was photographed wearing a very similar tiara in all diamonds)
Mary Scott Townsend’s Diamond Tiara by Cartier, 1905
“This ornate headdress and pair of earrings were found with the body of Queen Puabi in the Royal Cemetery at Ur. The headdress is made up of 20 gold leaves, two strings of lapis and carnelian, and a large gold comb. In addition, she wore chokers, necklaces, and large lunate-shaped earrings. Her upper body was covered by strands of beads made of precious metals and semiprecious stones that stretched from her shoulders to her belt. Ten rings decorated her fingers. A diadem or fillet made up of thousands of small lapis lazuli beads with gold pendants depicting plants and animals was apparently on a table near her head. Two attendants were in the chamber with Puabi, one crouched near her head, the other at her feet. Various metal, stone, and pottery vessels lay around the walls of the chamber.”
White and yellow gold, set with a cushion-cut Fancy Intense Yellow IF diamond weighing approximately 2.51 carats, 21 cabochon-cut rock crystals and brilliant-cut diamonds and yellow diamonds.
TIARA ALERT: Princess Ingrid Alexandra of Norway wore Princess Ingeborg’s Pearl Circle Tiara for a new official portrait to mark the celebrations of her 18th birthday at the Royal Palace in Oslo on 17 June 2022.
The Norwegian Royal Court also released a photo of the tiara. It’s always been a piece that we’ve only seen in blurry photos so it nice to get a good look at it.
