It was inspired by a Wagner opera as a commission for the Duchess of Roxburghe with its place in history secured because luxury jewellers Cartier have not made anything like it since.
The 2,500 diamond-winged helmets similar to those won by the heroines of Der Ring des Nibelungen were made for aristocrat Mary Crewe-Milnes in 1934, the year she married the 9th Duke of Roxburghe. The couple resided at Floors Castle near Kelso.
Now the tiara is to bring pre-Second World War era glamour to the V&A Museum of Design Dundee, which opens next year.
The piece, known as a Valkyrie tiara after the figures from Norse mythology, comprises more than 2,500 cushion-shaped, single-cut, circular-cut and rose-cut diamonds, set in a gold and silver frame. The “en tremblant” wings were constructed using wire-coiled springs so that they move slightly when worn. The wings can be detached and worn separately.
Joanna Norman, lead curator of the Scottish Design Galleries and acting head of research at the V&A, said: “This tiara is a stunning example of design being directly influenced by the person who commissioned it.”
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