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Lady Bruntisfield Pearl Tiara
Posted by OmerH on August 4, 2019, 12:19 am
A few days ago our fellow poster "Duke of Polignac" started a great thread about some forgotten and lesser known tiaras which introduced me to some very beautiful and unknown pieces. One of these was the pearl tiara worn by Lady Bruntisfield for the 1953 coronation.
Also visit the following link on National Portrait Gallery's website to use their zoom feature to see the tiara in much better detail.
Now I will put forward a theory regarding the origins of this piece and would like all my esteemed fellow posters to give their opinion regards my theory. I believe the tiara worn by Baroness Bruntisfield is the same as was once owned by Prince Johann George of Saxony who was a younger brother of the last King Frederick Augustus III of Saxony. Here is Princess Johann George wearing this tiara:
This tiara is now owned by the Qatar Museums Authority and is displayed quite regularly across the world:
For some reason this tiara is also referred to as the Hanover Diadem by the Qatar Museums Authority.
Coming back to my reasoning for claiming that they are one and the same tiara as seen on Lady Bruntisfield is the unusual shape of two pearls.....the small pearl on our extreme right as well as the pearl on our right next to the central pearl. This is much more clearly visible in the National Portrait Gallery zoom feature.
Prince Johann George died in 1938 while his wife died in 1947 without any issue. Hence it is perfectly possible that the tiara may have come up for auction or sold via a dealer sometime after 1938 or 1947 by the heirs.
Further more the tiara has been worn in recent memory by Lady Mayoress Blackshaw during the state banquet hosted by the Lord Mayor of London for Vladimir Putin's State Visit to United Kingdom.
What an incredible puzzle you have presented us with OmerH! Very thought provoking.
When the "Duke of Polignac" initially posted the image of Lady Bruntisfield I did a newspaper search to see what else could be found and, although I saw a photo of Lady Bruntisfield with the necklace, I did not see any additional photos of her with this tiara, or any references to it. So it seems that we have only this one photo of Lady Bruntisfield wearing the tiara.
Initially, I thought that all the ladies whose photos OmerH posted were wearing the same tiara; then I started to notice differences. One of the big problems in comparing the tiaras is that the photo of Maria Immaculata (Princess Johann George of Saxony) is so fuzzy.
Maria Immaculata
Nevertheless, there are two major differences which I can see.
One is in the band where the diamond in the centre is flanked by a small pearl in the tiara now in the Qatar Museum.
Qatar Museum tiara
In the tiara worn by Lady Bruntisfield and the one worn by the Lady Mayoress of London there appear to be 3 small diamonds.
Comparison
The tiara worn by Maria Immaculata might have a small pearl on either side of the central diamond, but I am unsure because the photo is so fuzzy.
Maria Immaculata
The second major difference I noticed is that, in the tiara worn by Maria Immaculata, there appears to be a sizeable diamond in the arc between each of the pearl motifs. In the tiara in the Qatar Museum there isn't. Nor was there one in the tiara worn by Lady Bruntisfield or the Lady Mayoress.
I am thoroughly confused.
Has anyone seen the book published by the V & A at the time of the 2013 exhibition on pearls? Perhaps it contains some additional information which might solve the queries.
Re: Lady Bruntisfield Pearl Tiara. Another photo of Maria Immaculata
I found another photo of Maria Immaculata, Princess Johann George of Saxony wearing the tiara.
I am posting 3 different magnifications of the image in the hope that someone with good eyes will see things which I cannot. Obviously there were gemstones in the arcs between the pearl motifs, so if this tiara is the one now in the Qatar Museum then it has been altered. I am not sure if there is a pearl on either side of the central diamond in the band -- there may be.
My attention is now on the central pearl as it has a distinct form. Is it the same in all the tiaras? I suspect it might be.
The tiara was owned by Prince John George of Saxony (1869-1938), and worn by his first wife, Princess Isabel of Wurtemberg (1871-1904) and by the second, Princess Maria Immaculata of Bourbon-Sicily.
They had no children it was later in the possession of the Hanover family
I found another photo of Maria Immaculata, Princess Johann George of Saxony wearing the tiara.
I am posting 3 different magnifications of the image in the hope that someone with good eyes will see things which I cannot. Obviously there were gemstones in the arcs between the pearl motifs, so if this tiara is the one now in the Qatar Museum then it has been altered. I am not sure if there is a pearl on either side of the central diamond in the band -- there may be.
My attention is now on the central pearl as it has a distinct form. Is it the same in all the tiaras? I suspect it might be.
All the available information about this tiara is very vague; no one seems to give any evidence for the changes made between when it was worn by Maria Immaculata and how it appears today. If it was owned by the Hanovers, when and why did they sell it?
I am inclining to OmerH's theory that the tiara is also the one worn by Lady Bruntisfield.
Re: Lady Bruntisfield Pearl Tiara. Another photo of Maria Immaculata
Great photos Beth. The unusual shapes of the pearls is whats convincing me that its the same tiara but like you I'm frustrated about lack of detailed info about the ownership chain.
Re: Lady Bruntisfield Pearl Tiara. Some more photos
on August 4, 2019, 12:19 am
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