#victorian jewellery
Enchanting Emeralds ….with the power to expose spells or illusions & reveal the truth or falsity of a lover’s vows.
Queen Victoria’s Diamond & Emerald diadem. Designed & commissioned by Prince Albert; Created by the Queen’s Jeweller, Joseph Kitching, and presented to Victoria in 1845
On display at Kensington Palace as part of Victoria revealed. © HISTORIC ROYAL PALACES
Source:https://www.sothebys.com/en/articles/queen-victoria-and-jewelry
Post link
Royal Jewels from the Bourbon Parma Family
Burmese Ruby and diamond bow brooch/hair ornament, circa 1900. Gift from Archduke Friedrich of Austria to his daughter, Archduchess Maria Anna (to mark the births of her two sons?). Courtesy of Sotheby’s, Geneva November 2018
Post link
Butterfly …symbolic gift of wings
Gem-set and diamond brooch, circa 1900
Designed as a butterfly, the head and thorax respectively set with a step-cut sapphire and an emerald and oval and pear-shaped diamonds, the wings set with variously shaped rubies, opals, emeralds and diamonds.
The XVIII Duke de Plasencia and Doña María de la Concepción lived during the very troubled and politically unstable years of the Spanish Civil War. They first met in Madrid on the terrace of the Hotel Universal in 1931 and it was love at first sight, however, the political situation separated them: the Duke took refuge in the Rumanian Embassy while Doña María de la Concepción moved to San Sebastian. Only twenty years later did they manage to formalise their union in holy matrimony in the famous Chapel of Santiago de Compostela.
This butterfly brooch was a present from the Duke to Doña María de la Concepción when during this very difficult period they managed on one occasion to meet in Biarritz, it was a symbolic gift to give her wings to escape the difficult political situation and a sign of a mutual oath and commitment to each other.
Sotheby’s Geneva 2013
Post link
Pendant
Natural pearl, enamel, gold, ruby and diamonds.
‘Of lozenge form, finely enamelled opaque black and white in the renaissance taste. mounted with pearls, old brilliant cut diamonds and centred by an oval ruby’.
Attributed to Carlo Giuliano, London, circa 1890.
Source: wartski
Post link
