Henry Dunay | Gold, Diamond and Simulated Diamond 'Lachrymosa' Mask

Illustrated in Henry Dunay: A Precious Life by Stephen Magner, page 96-97.

In the early 1990s, New York jewelry designer Henry Dunay was tapped to design a mask that would be sold to benefit the American Foundation for AIDS Research. Well-known for his striking and dramatic creations, Dunay allowed himself eight months to craft a piece he deemed worthy of amfAR’s mission. The result is the piece offered here, aptly named The Lachrymosa in reference to the many tears shed over the global scourge of AIDS.

In 1993, Elizabeth Taylor donned the mask at an amfAR charity event. The mask  reappeared in 2009 at the Antwerp Diamond Museum’s “Diamond Divas” exhibition, celebrating famous jewelry-loving women. It is believed that the mask was sold that same year, when Dunay closed his doors after over 50 years of business. Reportedly set with over 130 carats of diamonds, the mask was lauded by Dunay as something that “would be ideal…at the Smithsonian, saying what it was made for and why it was made.” At some point along its journey, the larger diamonds were replaced with simulants, but the dramatic power of Dunay’s original creation remains.