Zenobia Costume and Headdress Louise Duchess of Devonshire| Double Duchess |Royal Noble Jewel History

"Every season the 8th Duke of Devonshire and his Duchess Louise gave a number of parties and entertainments, including an annual dance the night after the Derby, but Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee in 1897 was the perfect opportunity to give the ball of the century.
Since fancy dress was all the rage, Louise decided to give her guests plenty of scope for imagination, and stipulated on the invitation that dress should be 'allegorical or historical costume before 1815.'"

"For her costume , the hostess chose the Parisian house of Worth, founded by Charles Frederick Worth in 1858, and then under the creative direction of his son, Jean-Philippe Worth. The famous Parisian couturier could be relied on to produce something both original and beautiful. She opted to portray Zenobia, Queen of Palmyra, and the outfit was indeed striking and original." It was after a design by Attilio Comelli, 1897.

"The skirt of gold gauze, appliquéd with tinsel medallions and peacock plumes worked in bright foils, wire coils and spangled with sequins, was worn over an ivory satin underskirt wrought over with silver thread and diamonds. Attached to the shoulders was a long graduated train in the most vivid emerald-green velvet, appliquéd with velvet and gold work in an Eastern design and studded with jewels."

"The whole outfit was enhanced by a lavish amount of jewellery, of which the Duchess possessed large quantities , as apart from the vast Devonshire collection, she had brought with her a considerable amount from her first marriage."

"On her dress were strung literally festoons of precious stones, falling over the bodice and from shoulder to wrist on the arms. On her head she wore a gold band studded with jewels below two high branching diamond ornaments. Attached to these were ropes of superb pearls, which fell down in loops over her ears, and from the back of her right down on to her dress." The Derbyshire Times and Chesterfield Herald described the headdress as "A gold crown encrusted with emeralds, diamonds, and rubies, with a diamond drop at each curved end and two upstanding white ostrich feathers in the centre, and round the front were festoons of pearls with a large-pear-shaped pearl in the centre falling on the forehead."

"The Duke's outfit was less ostentatious but equally impressive: he went as the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V, his costume copied from the portrait of that monarch by Titan." "He wore...a genuine badge of the Order of the Golden Fleece which was lent to him by the Prince of Wales."

The Zenobia costume exists today and the magnificent dress and train were exhibited at "House Style: Five Centuries of Fashion at Chatsworth" in 2017. Unfortunately the headdress did not survive. Using the single photograph of the Duchess in costume taken by Lafayette, the jeweller CW Sellors of Derby, reconstructed the vanished jewel for the exhibition.

"Having to work from a single, sepia photo of the lost headdress was a challenge, but an enjoyable one," said Paul Barker, C W Sellors Master Jeweller. "It was literally the only reference the team had to go on. It was worn by Louisa, Duchess of Devonshire at the lavish Devonshire House in 1897 as part of her costume as Zenobia, the third-century Queen of Palmyra, whose beauty was reputed to eclipse Cleopatra’s. "We made detailed sketches based on the photo," continued Paul. “There was a positive aspect in that the limited reference gave us a degree of creative license."

"The finished headdress contains over 450 stones, ranging from a few millimetres in size to much larger pieces, sourced from all over the world: 164 Simulated Diamonds, 33 Amethyst, 118 Peridot, 119 Pearls and 19 hand crafted Derbyshire Blue John. It took 18 months to complete." Ostrich feathers also were included in the reconstruction.

Excellent Text and Information from Laura, thank you for this great lecture!

Sources: The Devonshire House Ball, Sophia Topley Found in House Style: Five Centuries of Fashion at Chatsworth. Laura Burlington and Hamish Bowles; The Duchess of Devonshire's Ball, Sophia Murphy; The Duchess of Devonshire's Fancy Dress Ball Devonshire Times and Chesterfield Herald, 10 Jul 1897; How C W Sellors transformed five centuries of fashion into modern jewellery, Sotheby's https://www.sothebys.com/en/articles/how-c-w-sellors-transformed-five-centuries-of-fashion-into-modern-jewellery

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