Re: Cameo tiara Empress Josephine HQ pic Archived Message
Posted by Beth1  on October 24, 2014, 2:46 am, in reply to "Re: Cameo tiara Empress Josephine HQ pic"
Thank you Mauriz and Arthur for the photos and information on this jewel.
Mauriz, before I saw your HQ photo, I simply thought it was an interesting design. Only your HQ photo made me realise that I was looking at a jewel where I had no idea about how it was constructed, and that it was something I hadn't seen before. I was particularly intrigued by how the top and bottom bands (and the wave pattern) were achieved without any joins.
Arthur, your photos and the information about the shell told me a lot. I can now understand the basis of the principal section of the tiara, as when I was young it was very commonplace for people in North Queensland to have large shells as ornaments at the front steps or doors to houses. Among them was Cassis Cornuta, although they were not called that colloquially. (The species has been protected here for many years so they are now rarely seen in the way I described - people have to inherit them or pay high prices!)
Mauriz, I have two thoughts about the metal aspects - which may or may not assist you.
1. I suspect that the wide metal band at the back may have always existed to ensure that the shell was not placed under undue pressure by having ties which held the tiara securely.
2. The following idea may explain why there are gold elements towards the rear of the shell section.
Could it be that, the tiara was secured by ties of some description, and that the tension created by that caused a crack in the main shell section at one point, and so two additional gold elements were used to conceal a crack? Obviously, if this scenario has any validity, one would have been necessary on either side.
I confess I do not have any expert knowledge and that I am clutching at straws to find an explanation. The shells I had contact with in my childhood were hard/durable, definitely not fragile. Children, being children, often stood on them to scale the railings of the steps to houses. (By way of explanation re houses here - until the latter part of the twentieth century, houses in Queensland were normally built on stumps and so there were stairs to the front doors)
--Previous Message--
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: Dear Arthur, how polite of you to thank me
: for a HQ image when there was clearly no
: need for it: Your own pictures show the
: details much better. Thanks for that and for
: the comprehensive information about the
: tiara, even more so for your persononal
: account.
:
: From a purely aesthetic point of view I
: would have prefered the tiara without the
: small metal appliqués *within* the
: medaillons which seem arbitrary and formally
: disconnected and only distract from the bold
: design. What I do find interesting though
: are the foliate elements at the sides which
: run through the medaillons - not consistent
: with the rest of the design, but an
: eye-catching alternative.
:
: I'd be interested to learn more about the
: construction. In the second to last picture
: the front part seems doubled or backed with
: another layer of shell and a layer of metal
: in between? The metal band complementing the
: tiara to a full circle is probably a later
: addition?
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