Byzantine Princess Diadem

Close up image of the central portion of a tiara. The band is studded with diamonds and has 2 softly rounded arches coming down to a point in the center. It features the golden head of a woman which is finely detailed. She has an elaborate hairstyle with hair piled on top in an updo as well as braids hanging down and doubled up. Behind her head on either side appear to be long, thick, hanks of hair that are looped in circles at the lower part with the end of the hank pointing up. She appears to be wearing a necklace and there are several ribbons with medallions on each end around her neck. The medallions, which are all round, have designs on them like stars, lines, and dots. The figure is wearing a headpiece. Across her forehead is a diamond band with a large oval opal in the center. There is a smaller semi-circular diamond band rising up from this main band. On the sides, covering where her ears would be, there are large circular golden medallions engraved with angular line decorations with large round opals in the center.

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This lovely tiara - made of gold, silver, diamonds and opals in France around 1900 - is a little bit meta since the figurehead is wearing its own tiara. It's also a little bit of a mystery! It doesn't have an official name but I have seen it referred to as the Byzantine Princess Diadem. The maker is unknown although suspected to be Georges Fouquet or Maison Vever, the jewelry house started by Henri Vever's grandfather. Henri was a very well known Art Nouveau jeweler. We've talked about Georges Fouquet before - he is presumed to be the creator of the Sea Dragon Tiara.

Side view of the tiara. The band is studded with diamonds and has 2 softly rounded arches coming down to a point in the center. It features the golden head of a woman which is finely detailed. She has an elaborate hairstyle with hair piled on top in an updo as well as braids hanging down and doubled up. Behind her head on either side appear to be long, thick, hanks of hair that are looped in circles at the lower part with the end of the hank pointing up. She appears to be wearing a necklace and there are several ribbons with medallions on each end around her neck. The medallions, which are all round, have designs on them like stars, lines, and dots. The figure is wearing a headpiece. Across her forehead is a diamond band with a large oval opal in the center. There is a smaller semi-circular diamond band rising up from this main band. On the sides, covering where her ears would be, there are large circular golden medallions engraved with angular line decorations with large round opals in the center.

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I'm just going to quote what the gallery has to say about the diadem:

The design of the female head is reminiscent of drawings and posters by the Czech artist Alphonse Mucha, who worked closely with Georges Fouquet designing jewellery whilst he was living in Paris. Mucha was much influenced by Byzantine culture and made a series titled 'Byzantine heads' (1896-1898) in which he depicted female heads with fantastical headgear, as seen here, with the two roundels covering the ear and long gold dangling pendants.
Photo of the back side of the tiara, showing how the figure's head is connected to the band of the tiara. There is a fastening on the head, which allows it to be removed and worn as a brooch.

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I've said before that I really like tiaras that are convertible. It's always good to have options! You can unscrew the head from the diamond band and wear it as a pendant, according to the gallery site, although I don't see how you would attach it to a necklace. 🤔

Photo of the tiara in its black velvet case.

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This tiara is up for auction on the 1st Dibs auction site. I think they were going for something clever when naming their site but it just sounds slightly sketchy to me. They are legit, though, and have tons of jewels to drool over. If you wanted to own this lovely Byzantine princess she would set you back a mere $60,704.17. (I'm wondering if the price was converted from another currency because to have a tiara price end in 17 cents is just so odd!)

Meme showing a photo of rapper Xzibit. On the top it says YO DAWG, HEARD YOU LIKE HAVING A TIARA ON YOUR TIARA and on the bottom it says SO WE PUT A TIARA ON THE TIARA SO NOW YOU CAN WEAR A TIARA THAT'S WEARING A TIARA. image of a white rabbit popping out of his rabbit hole, looking around, and going back in. His rabbit hole is surrounded by grass and some carrots in the ground.

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