Diamond set tiara arranged as a stylized Greek-key pattern flanked by honeysuckle motifs and centering on a diamond surrounded by triumphal laurels. The design of the jewel should remembers of the country of the husband of Princess Andrew of Greece, mother of the Duke of Edinburgh.
The motif is palmette (anthemion)and has an Greco-Egyptian origin generally used to represent fertility,among other symbologies like the Tree of life, etc.
The name honeysuckle was much posterior and originates from the apparent resemblance between the cited pattern and the flowers of this creep the Greek form of palmette is the anthemion. One of the variations which evolved is very similar to a honeysuckle motif.
The Greek Meander Tiara was produced by Kreuter & Co. of Hanau in 1911, one of the prominent jewellery manufacturers of the Hanau goldsmith tradition, whose firms specialized in high-quality historicist jewellery for European courts and aristocratic clients. The design drawing preserved in the firm’s records is numbered No. 209.
To create a clearer and more harmonious Greek key (meander) pattern, the motif was slightly shortened during the execution of the piece, and the central gemstone was later permanently secured in its setting.
Early photographs of Princess Alice of Battenberg (Princess Andrew of Greece and Denmark) reveal that the central stone was originally mounted as a movable pendant, suspended from two diamonds and able to swing freely beneath the tiara.
It is widely believed that the tiara was constructed from the dismantled elements of an earlier star tiara or star-set necklace, whose diamonds were reused to form the characteristic geometric meander pattern. This practice of re-mounting stones from earlier jewels was common in royal collections, allowing valuable gemstones to be adapted to changing tastes and fashions
The Greeek Meander Tiara in diamonds was given to Princess Anna, the Princess Royal to her 18th birtday and worn also of her daughter Sara on her wedding day.
Thank you to Stefan Stern for sharing the sketch with me!
Sources:Royal Collection;Grafische Sammlung Stern;
