Re: Cameo tiara Empress Josephine HQ pic Archived Message
Posted by Nellie  on October 24, 2014, 3:48 am, in reply to "Re: Cameo tiara Empress Josephine HQ pic"
Beth, that's all good information about the shell. Thank you.
I am wondering how thick the shell would be.
--Previous Message--
: 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--
:
: 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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