Today marks the 150th Anniversary of the Birth of Princess Maria Immacolata of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, Princess of Saxony, who was born on this day in 1874! The Bourbon-Two Sicilies Princess who as the last First Lady of the Saxon Court, Princess Maria Immaculata possessed some spectacular heirlooms, which included the Saxony Pearl Tiara!
The magnificent Pearl and Diamond Tiara features seven upright pear-shaped Pearls set on an ornate Pearl and Diamond base of scrolls and festoons, and was created around 1830;
Gold and silver tiara, the openwork band at the base filled with pairs of diamonds set alternatively above and below between button pearls, except in the centre which is marked by a diamond between three small pearls. The seven pear pearls in diamond caps rise from adorned diamond scrolls linked together like festoons, each enclosing a collet set diamond, resting on a channel set line of diamonds. German, C. 1830.
The Pearl and Diamond Tiara came into the possession of Prince John George of Saxony, the younger brother of King Frederick Augustus III of Saxony, and was said to have been worn by his first wife, Princess Isabel of Wurtemberg, but was mainly pictured on his second wife, Princess Maria Immaculata of the Bourbon-Two Sicilies, who wore the Tiara for official portraits soon after her marriage in 1906, as the First Lady of the Saxon Court. Following the end of the Saxon Monarchy, the Tiara was likely sold to fund the Princess’ “Das Frauenhilfswerk für Priesterberufe” (Women’s Aid Organization for Priestly Vocations).
At some point the Pearl Tiara ended up in the possession of the Hanoverian Royal Family, and seems to have been loaned to Baroness Bruntisfield for the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953.
In 2002, the Pearl Tiara was worn on several occasions by the then Lady Mayoress of London, Lady Arthur, for several Banquets at the Guildhall in London, including one for President Putin.
In September 2013, the Saxony Pearl Tiara, noted as having belonged to the Hanoverian Royal Family, was loaned to the Victoria & Albert Museum for their special “Pearls” exhibition, and at some point belonged to the Albion Art Institute. Diana Scarisbrick said:
The grandeur of the design, emphasized by the huge and rare natural pearls springing up from the festoons epitomises royal majesty. Associated with the princes of Saxony and Hanover, it recalls the splendour of court life in those kingdoms before they came to an end after the unification of Germany under the Hohenzollerns of Prussia.
This Saxony Pearl Tiara is now owned by the Qatar Museums Authority and is displayed regularly across the world, though it is usually on display at the National Museum in Doha, alongside Archduchess Marie Valerie’s Köchert Tiara and Raine, Countess Spencer’s Tiara.
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