Kate Flitcroft
Co-Head of Department UK
Lot 27*
SEED PEARL, AMETHYST AND DIAMOND CHOKER, 18TH-19TH CENTURY
Amended
26 April 2023, 11:00 BST
London, New Bond StreetSold for £1,275 inc. premium
Looking for a similar item?
Our Jewellery specialists can help you find a similar item at an auction or via a private sale.
Find your local specialistAsk about this lot
Jennifer Tonkin
Co-Head of Department UK
Charlotte Glyde
Specialist Consultant
SEED PEARL, AMETHYST AND DIAMOND CHOKER, 18TH-19TH CENTURY
The central cushion-shaped amethyst and rose-cut diamond cluster with urn and weeping willow motif on reverse, between four rows of seed pearls, choker length approximately 43.0cm
Footnotes
Provenance
The Descendants of Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Lots 17 – 34
Alfred Tennyson (1809-1892) was one of the most celebrated poets of the Victorian era, succeeding William Wordsworth as Poet Laureate in 1850. His most famous works include "The Lady of Shalott", "In Memoriam A.H.H." and the "Charge of the Light Brigade". His poetry was a major influence on the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, who considered him one of their "immortals" and Queen Victoria was an admirer. In 1856, from the proceeds of "Maud", Tennyson purchased Farringford, a manor house in Freshwater on the Isle of Wight. The estate remained in family until 1945.
The Tennyson's circle was wide. Known as excellent hosts, they regularly entertained their numerous friends and acquaintances - artists, intellectuals, writers, statesmen, politicians, and thinkers of the day - including Prince Albert, Giuseppe Garibaldi, John Everett Millais, William Holman Hunt, George Frederic Watts, Christina Rossetti, Robert Browning, Julia Margaret Cameron, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Lewis Carroll, Edward Lear, Algernon Charles Swinburne, to name but a few.
The photograph above, by Oscar Gustave Rejlander, circa 1862, shows Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson (1809-1892) with his wife Emily (1813-1896) and his sons Hallam (1852-1928) and Lionel (1854-1886) in the garden of Farringford on the Isle of Wight.
This collection of jewels is offered for sale by direct descendants of Alfred, Lord Tennyson. Some pieces were worn by Audrey Tennyson, wife of Hallam Tennyson, the Poet's elder son and biographer, who served as the second Governor-General of Australia, and some were the property of Margaret Cicely Tennyson, daughter of the 10th Viscount Strathallan and wife of Alfred Browning Stanley Tennyson, son of Lionel Tennyson, the Poet's younger son.
Saleroom notices
Please note, there is not an urn and weeping willow motif on the reverse, as stated in the catalogue entry.
