THE PROPERTY OF A LADY
AN IMPORTANT BELLE EPOQUE DIAMOND CHOKER NECKLACE of foliate and scroll design, comprising five graduated diamond foliate and scroll garlands with diamond laurel crown spacers suspending diamond four-stone droplets, circa 1910
Details
AN IMPORTANT BELLE EPOQUE DIAMOND CHOKER NECKLACE of foliate and scroll design, comprising five graduated diamond foliate and scroll garlands with diamond laurel crown spacers suspending diamond four-stone droplets, circa 1910
32.5cm. long
The necklace now being offered for sale is the embodiment of the garland style which was popular from the mid 1890s until the outbreak of the First World War. The inspiration for this style came from the reign of Louis XVI and his court at Versailles. Many of those industrialists and entrepreneurs who had acquired great wealth during the late nineteenth century liked to recreate the atmosphere of the late eighteenth century and required jewellery that evoked the splendour of the period. Louis Cartier constantly encouraged his
draughtsmen to walk about Paris noting details of architecture of the eighteenth century. In Cartier's sketch books there appeared the pediments above the doors at Fontainebleau and the garlands of fruit on the Petit Trianon.
32.5cm. long
The necklace now being offered for sale is the embodiment of the garland style which was popular from the mid 1890s until the outbreak of the First World War. The inspiration for this style came from the reign of Louis XVI and his court at Versailles. Many of those industrialists and entrepreneurs who had acquired great wealth during the late nineteenth century liked to recreate the atmosphere of the late eighteenth century and required jewellery that evoked the splendour of the period. Louis Cartier constantly encouraged his
draughtsmen to walk about Paris noting details of architecture of the eighteenth century. In Cartier's sketch books there appeared the pediments above the doors at Fontainebleau and the garlands of fruit on the Petit Trianon.
Provenance
Viscountess Astor (1879-1964), was born Nancy Witcher Langhorne on 19 May 1879. She came to England in 1904 after her divorce from Robert Gould Shaw to enjoy the social and hunting seasons. In 1906 she married Waldorf Astor who brought her great wealth and happiness; they had four sons and one daughter. In 1919 Waldorf had to vacate his parliamentary seat in Plymouth after inheriting his father's peerage. In the resulting by-election Nancy, now Lady Astor, was returned as a Conservative supporter of the Lloyd George coalition. When she took her seat on 1 December 1919 she became the first woman to do so as the Sinn Fein Countess Markieviez was elected in 1918 but disqualified herself by refusing to take the oath. Nancy and her husband entertained lavishly at their magnificent country house Cliveden which overlooked the Thames near Taplow in Buckinghamshire. During the 1939-45 war the Astors dedicated themselves to Plymouth and did much to sustain the morale of the city after a great deal of heavy bombing. Partly as a result of her husband's persuasion Nancy did not seek re-election to the House of Commons in 1945. Waldorf Astor died in 1952 and Nancy survived him by twelve years. They are both buried at Cliveden.
The present vendor inherited the tiara from her mother the late The Hon. Mrs A. I. Astor who acquired it from her mother-in-law Nancy Astor in the early 1950s.
The present vendor inherited the tiara from her mother the late The Hon. Mrs A. I. Astor who acquired it from her mother-in-law Nancy Astor in the early 1950s.