INDENTThis very rare Lesser George is one of the few items of jewelled Garter insigina dating from the 16th. century in private hands. Similar examples are chiefly to be found in Royal or public collections. It is perhaps due to the manner in which the diamonds have been cut that the piece was not broken up in the 17th. century. The hog-back style did not remain popular for long, and this, combined with the very unusual shapes of some of the stones, cut to fit the armour of St. George, presumably made the diamonds unsuitable for use in a later piece of jewellery. Whatever the reason for the survival of this piece of insignia, it is without doubt both a very rare object and historically a highly important one.

Figures of armed warriors, their armour represented partially or wholly by precious stones, were popular in 16th. century Europe. A St. Michael pendant for the collar of the French Order of St. Michael, dating from c. 1500 and attributed to a workshop in Tours, exists complete with it's diamonds cut "en pointe", "en table" and "en dos d'âne" (Dix siècles de joaillerie française" Exhibition catalogue of the Musée du Louvre, Paris, 1962, No. 34 p. 33). In the Green Vaults, Dresden, two pendants of warriors, referred to as St. George, are modelled in gold with their armour completely set with similar cut diamonds. Among the few comparable pieces of Garter insignia, the group in Rosenborg Castle, Denmark, presented to King Frederik II in 1582, displays similar settings of diamonds on the equestrian figure of the Collar Jewel, as well as very similar narrow garter bands around the groups on both the Collar Jewel and the Lesser George. Finally mention should be made of the St. George hat-badge in the Waddesdon Bequest in the British Museum. This again shows a clever use of diamonds in the modelling of St. George's armour, and dates from the end of the 16th. century