Diamond Jubilee Exhibitions: Treasures from the Royal Palace

Mosaic Egg, crafted by Carl Faberge in 1914. Photo Credit: Jafd88, Creative Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)   Treasures from the Royal Palaces is a special exhibition* celebrating Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee. The exhibit officially opened on March 16, 2012, with public displays in the Queen’s Gallery of Buckingham Palace and the Palace of Holyroodhouse (the Queen’s official residence in Scotland). Though a large portion of the collection features paintings from old masters as well as drawings from Leonardo da Vinci, a significant array of jewelry, gemstones, and jeweled decorations is also on display. Among the jewels, visitors will find several cameos from the Hellenistic period (1^st and 2^nd century BC), acquired by King George III from the collection of Consul Joseph Smith of Venice in 1762. These ancient cameos appear to have been reset as gold gold during the late 1700s. The cameo collection also includes carvings from Imperial Rome, Northern Italy, and England, all from the 1700s. One of the most beautiful displays of jewelry is a parure (jeweled necklace with matching earrings and brooch), which has an equally beautiful history. Exquisitely fashioned in 1899, this beautiful ensemble was made of enamelled gold, pearls, rubies, and emeralds, and was originally given as a gift, by Mary, Queen of Scots, to her faithful attendant, Mary Seton. Ms. Seton’s family maintained ownership of the matching jewels until they were sold at auction at Christie’s in 1894. The daughter of the new owner, Lilias Countess Bathurst, gave the set to Queen Mary during George V’s Silver Jubilee in 1935. Probably the most impressive jeweled item on display at the Queen’s Palaces is the Mosaic Easter Egg, one of the most ornate of the Faberge Imperial Easter Eggs. The Mosaic egg was commissioned in 1914 by Tsar Nicholas II for his wife, Tsarina Alexandra (grand-daughter of Queen Victoria). Designed by a woman, Alma Theresia Pihl, the egg was hand crafted with tiny individual squares cut precisely out of platinum. Into each perfectly calibrated slot a square-cut gemstone was inlaid by hand. Set with rubies, sapphires, demantoid, garnets, diamonds, and pearls, this beautiful egg harbored a surprise, which was revealed on Easter morning 1914, when Tsarina Alexandra opened it for the first time. The Surprise featured an enamelled medallion bearing the Russian (Romanov) Imperial Crown made out of diamonds and platinum. On the front of the medallion the five Romanov children were carved in profile, and on the back a Victorian-style basket of flowers sits surrounded by the names of their children. by Angela Magnotti Andrews

*This article has been modified slightly from its original publication on June 9, 2012 on Jewelry-History.com.

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