Superb diamond tiara, 1930s

Cf.: Judy Rudoe, Cartier 1900-1939, Somogy Editions d’Arts, Paris, 1997, pg. 80-81, for the 1934 halo tiara of Princess Andrée, Begum Aga Khan.

Cf.: Hugh Roberts, The Queen’s Diamonds, Royal Collection Publications, 2012, pg. 222, for the 1936 Cartier halo tiara purchased for the future Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother.

Halo Tiaras

Halo tiaras are worn at a steep angle, high on the crown of the head, encircling the wearer with a halo-like blaze of precious stones. The style was developed in the 1930s, serving as the perfect complement to the closely cropped, waved hairstyles that were in favor by fashionable women.

Lacloche Frères was instrumental in popularizing the halo tiara, most famously with the creation of a Chinese-inspired design for Loelia, Duchess of Westminster, in 1930. The Westminster tiara originally featured the Hastings diamond and the pear-shaped Arcot diamonds, gifted to George III by the Nizam Ali Kahn and to Queen Charlotte by the Nawab of Arcot, respectively.

In the early 1930s, opera-singer and socialite Ganna Walska was photographed wearing a suitably dramatic version topped by cabochon gemstones. The halo tiara entered popular culture with the 1934 movie musical Roberta in which Irene Dunne, starring as an exiled Russian princess turned fashion designer, wears a costume version while introducing the Jerome Kern standard, Smoke Gets in Your Eyes.

Cartier London was particularly well-known for the halo style, often integrating Egyptian-inspired elements such as the palmettes found in lot 636. The production of halo tiaras was concentrated around 1934-1936; most were transformable into necklaces with a central motif that could be worn as a brooch. Princess Andrée, Begum Aga Khan (1898-1976) owned two magnificent halo tiaras: a diamond version designed as a series of lotus flowers made by the workshop English Artworks for Cartier London in 1934, as well as an emerald, pearl and diamond example created by Cartier Paris as early as 1923.

In 1936, the Duke of York, the future King George VI, purchased a diamond halo tiara composed of scroll motifs at Cartier London for his wife Elizabeth Bowes Lyon, better known over five decades as England’s beloved “Queen Mum”. She presented the tiara to Elizabeth II, then still a princess, on her eighteenth birthday in 1944. In turn, Elizabeth II loaned the jewel to her sister, Princess Margaret, who wore it for her sister’s coronation in 1953. The beautiful tiara was last seen resting on the chestnut locks of Catherine Middleton, now the Princess of Wales, when she wed Prince William in 2011.

The Rana Dynasty

Field Marshal, H.H. Shree 3 Maharaja Sir Chandra Shumshere Jung Bahadur Rana Prime Minister of Nepal, GCB, GCSI, GCVO, GCMG, FRGS, DCL (Oxon.)

8th July 1863 – 26th November 1929 Maharaja Chandra Shumsher was the fifth Prime Minister of the Rana Dynasty of Nepal. During his time in office Chandra Shumshere abolished slavery and the act of Sati, and established Nepal’s first college and hospitals throughout the country. He provided monetary and military assistance to Britain during the First World War, and maintained the independence of the Kingdom of Nepal throughout the Colonial era which culminated in the Anglo-Nepalese Treaty of Friendship in Katmandu on 11th December in 1923, with Britain recognising the independence of Nepal. He travelled to Britain where he was entertained by His Majesty King Edward VII and also toured Europe meeting the French President. He attended the Coronation Durbar at Delhi in 1903 and again in 1911 when he was granted a 19-gun salute. He received King-Emperor George V in Nepal December 1911 and King Edward VIII as Prince of Wales in December 1921. Part of his legacy is his donation of the largest collection of ancient Sanskrit Manuscripts to the University of Oxford, known as the Chandra Shumshere Collection.

The Rana family amassed great wealth, including property and jewellery. According to family tradition, this exceptional diamond tiara was mounted by Cartier in the 1930s and has thence passed down by descent.