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Tiaras - A History Of Splendour

Tiaras have always inspired a great fascination and the most beautiful and influential women have been painted, photographed and admired whilst wearing them. Even in the twenty-first century they are still worn and continue to inspire special poise and elegance. This lavishly illustrated book includes new photographs of a variety of Royal tiaras together with those of French and Russian Imperial provenances. Geoffrey Munn has been granted special access to the photographic archives of many famous jewellers, including Cartier, Boucheron and Faberg,, for his research. Other makers include Castellani, Fouquet, Garrards, Giuliano, Lalique, and Tiffany. Among the contemporary pieces illustrated are tiaras belonging to Jamie Lee Curtis, Vivienne Westwood, Elton John and Madonna, made by Slim Barratt, Galliano and Versace.

Hardcover: 432 pages

Publisher: Antique Collectors Club Dist; First Edition edition (December 1, 2001)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 1851493751

ISBN-13: 978-1851493753

Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 1.6 x 11.7 inches

Shipping Weight: 5.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)

Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (30 customer reviews)

Best Sellers Rank: #463,392 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #141 in Books > Crafts, Hobbies & Home > Antiques & Collectibles > Jewelry

Geoffrey Munn's superb "Tiaras" is a treat in every possible sense of the word. I'll be perfectly frank in admitting that I bought the book purely to drool over the photographs (which are sumptuous). And yet without intending to be educated, I ended up learning a great deal from Munn's concise and accurate text.Munn has served as the jewelry consultant and appraiser for the BBC version of "Antiques Roadshow" for some years, and his expertise is immediately evident in "Tiaras." He gives a detailed-but-never-overwhelming history of these crown-like adornments, from ancient Egypt and Rome (where they began as wreaths of foliage worn by nobility) all the way through the 20th century.You would think that only bejewelled tiaras would be represented here, but this is not the case. Of course there are magnificent examples in all manner of precious metals and faceted gemstones, but there is also a variety of unusual pieces, such as . . .. . . a black-and-white banded agate tiara designed specifically for use when the wearer is in mourning;. . . an improbably lovely washed beechwood (yes, wood!) tiara designed by Queen Elizabeth's nephew, Viscount Linley, a famed furniture designer, and modeled here by his lovely wife;. . . a rock-crystal tiara hand-engraved with Russian arabesques and set with a shimmering array of rose-cut and brilliant diamonds;. . . a foliate-and-floral tiara in which the three-dimensional elements decorating the piece are set "en tremblant," meaning that they quiver as though alive with every subtle movement of the wearer's head;. . .

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