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| Photos (clockwise from top left): Empress Farah Pahlavi; Empress Farah Pahlavi; Empress Farah Pahlavi; tiara detail; Empress Farah Pahlavi |
In the 1950s and 1960s, it was hard to compete with the Pahlavi family in terms of sheer glitter power. This tiara was one of several that Farah Diba received when she married the last emperor of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, in 1958.
This tiara, named for the seven cabochon emeralds that are studded across the top of the piece, was made by Harry Winston in the same year that Farah became queen. The rest of the tiara is made of diamonds -- nearly three hundred of them -- in shades of pink, yellow, and white. One of the most unusual features of the piece is its base, which is curved, almost mimicking the wings of a bird.
Like most of the rest of the imperial jewels, this piece was left behind in Iran when the family left following the revolution of 1979. You can see it, along with many other pieces, in the country's Treasury of National Jewels, located in the Central Bank in Tehran.
Magnificent stones, but not a fan of the mix of colours. The shape of the base is not appealing to me either.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if the aesthetics of design is somehow etched in what is around you as a child, or maybe in you DNA, LOL.
I agree entirely with what Betty has said. (I can call you just Betty, can't I?) Just as in the Noor al Ain, the stones are stunning, but there's no sense of pattern or design with the way they're 'stuck' on. It's as if they just laid down a base of hot glue and flung bucketfulls of big gems. Whatever stuck, stuck.
ReplyDeleteI'm not really fond of the pointy base either, although I think it could probably be stunning depending on the era and hairstyle. As it is, it just looks potentially dangerous or at least uncomfortable.
This seems like it's a a bit top heavy and over powering to me. There is a lot going on with this one and just doesn't look like a quality piece to me. Yes the emeralds are lovely just not in this setting.
ReplyDeleteI agree with all of your assessements. Not a big fan of this tiara.
ReplyDeleteIt's strange that the Pahlavi's left so many jewels when they fled the country.
That's rule 101 of being Royalty. When you flee you keep the stones because they will help provide capital for your never ending exile.
I wrote more detailed comments downthread about how the Pahlavis didn't actually have any legal right to the Iranian crown jewels, but I love your comment overall because for the last week I keep imagining some harebrained last-minute scheme in which, not content to escape with their lives, the Pahlavis try to organize a last minute bank heist.
Delete"Argo" meets "The Italian Job" meets "The Last Emperor." The world needs this movie so much. Angelina Jolie as a thinly disgused Farah! Tommy Lee Jones as a thinly disguised Reza!
And I agree that for any about-to-be-deposed royal/imperial family, the Pahlavis are kind of a cautionary tale.
Ha! This is fantastic.
DeleteI think the base reminds me of a widow's peak, but Ella Kay's comparison to a bird is much nicer.
ReplyDeleteYes, yes, yes, to all of your comments. I like the basic design, except the swoop-y base. And the random placement of the gems. I do think the top needs 2-4 more emeralds. It seems rather unfinished.
ReplyDeleteStill, I wouldn't turn it down!
I have said i don't like cabochon stones unless they are very dark-these fit the bill exactly. The gigantic size helps too-even though there are no facets, there is scope for light. Overall, I quite like the whole tiara, actually-although I would make one or two tweaks. I would definitely use all white diamonds, and I might replace a few of the diamonds with small emeralds-or else just replace all the baguettes along the frame with emeralds. I feel like it needs some dark stones somewhere, but not too many-just to continue the design elements. I do like the apparent absence of all metal framework-there are few visible prongs. The stones just float and that is beautiful.
ReplyDeleteI like the swooping frame. I think it would be flattering on most facial shapes, giving needed roundness to a narrow face, but also drawing the eye in to the center and thus narrowing a round face.
The flattering sweetheart frame is a beautiful shape, and I think the multi-colored diamonds all thrown together soften the harsher color of the dark green cabochons.
ReplyDeleteThe last shah's father donated the crown jewels that weren't already government property to the Central Bank several decades before the Pahlavis went into exile. The Iranian crown jewels were and continue to be a large part of the hard-value assets that give Iranian currency its value. (Why quibble over gold standard or silver standard when you can have tiara standard?)
ReplyDeleteI'm mentioning this because in a lot of the entries on Iranian tiaras, people comment to wonder what that stuff is doing sitting around in a bank, instead of being worn (Iran is now a republic, so there's no royal family to wear them) or in the Pahlavi family's personal possession, or auctioned off to support the Pahalvis in exile.
Thanks for the comment! These Iranian tiaras are a part of an incredibly complicated political history, and it's good to remember them in that context.
DeleteAlso, I totally agree that we should all switch to a tiara standard -- writing my congressperson immediately! :-)
No problem. Certainly, Farah received personal gifts of jewelry from her husband (and others) that she was able to take with her when they left. But some of the jewelry, in terms of its legal provenance, wasn't really Reza's presents to Farah but rather the Shah's gifts to his Empress, so it was technically commissioned or at least approved by the Central Bank as part of complex economic decisions about things like the best way to maximize the value of previously uncut stones or correcting the (terrible problem!) of superior gems in inferior settings (or superior settings surrounding inferior stones, for that matter). Certainly international prestige played a role in all of that as well, when Iran was still maintaining an imperial family and court.
DeleteThe good news is that anyone who can travel to Tehran today to see the crown jewels on display will never see an empty presentation case with a note reading "Tiara currently being worn at a party you weren't invited to; better luck next time."
And a tiara standard might be nice, but I'm torn since part of me thinks that a tiara's most important duty is to be pretty and sparkly at fancy occasions, not doing dull stuff like shoring up currency.