Lot Essay
INDENTThis example of Persia's rarest Order, bestowed usually upon reigning Queens, is the first to appear at public auction
Details
PERSIA, Order of the Sun, Star, 60 mm., the central enamel female face surrounded by a border of twenty brilliant cut diamonds, the thirty two rays completely set with 240 brilliant-cut diamonds, extremely fine, of the highest rarity
Provenance
Lady Lucia Marling C.B.E., wife of Sir Charles Murray Marling, G.C.M.G., C.B. (1862-1933), British Minister at Tehran 1915-1919
It is most unusual for the Order of the Sun to be bestowed upon the wife of a British Minister. The explanation must lie in the fact that Lady Marling was on intimate terms with some members of the Persian Royal family, Ahmad Shah (1909-25), his uncles Prince Abu'l-Fusl and Prince Nasir od-Din Mirza who acted as Regents until 1916, or some of the Shah's wives. The British Minister and his wife were certainly capable of striking up such close friendships, even if by doing so they incurred the censorship of the Government in London. While in Tehran they befriended and helped the exiled Russian Prince Grand Duke Dimitri Pavlovich at a time when the British Government was refusing to help the Romanovs. In this instance they were eventually vindicated when in 1928 the British formally recognised Dimitri as heir to the Russian throne.
It is most unusual for the Order of the Sun to be bestowed upon the wife of a British Minister. The explanation must lie in the fact that Lady Marling was on intimate terms with some members of the Persian Royal family, Ahmad Shah (1909-25), his uncles Prince Abu'l-Fusl and Prince Nasir od-Din Mirza who acted as Regents until 1916, or some of the Shah's wives. The British Minister and his wife were certainly capable of striking up such close friendships, even if by doing so they incurred the censorship of the Government in London. While in Tehran they befriended and helped the exiled Russian Prince Grand Duke Dimitri Pavlovich at a time when the British Government was refusing to help the Romanovs. In this instance they were eventually vindicated when in 1928 the British formally recognised Dimitri as heir to the Russian throne.