Famed aesthete and socialite Countess of Rosse’s jewellery for sale at Bonhams

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As a person of the most glamorous debutantes of the 1920s (she was usually mentioned in culture columns and photographed by Cecil Beaton), Anne Messel, the long run Countess of Rosse, was acknowledged for her impeccable model (she famously experienced a custom of composing a be aware about how she felt putting on a specified garment ahead of storing it away). Now, two of her most prized jewels are established to go up for auction at Bonhams, almost 3 decades soon after her demise.

Bonhams

The parts incorporated in Bonhams’ London Jewels sale on 28 April are a late 19th century emerald, pearl and diamond bangle, believed to be truly worth involving £20,000-£30,000, and a mid-19th century onyx cameo, enamel, pearl and diamond bracelet, approximated to be value £15,000-£20,000, and which also after belonged to Adrian Hope of the renowned Anglo-Dutch banking dynasty.

Bonhams

‘The Countess of Rosse was a girl of exquisite flavor, and the two pieces made available in the sale plainly specific this,’ stated Emily Barber, Head of Bonhams Jewellery Department. ‘The mid-19th century onyx cameo, enamel, pearl and diamond bracelet in distinct, is really particular – possessing also formerly been in the assortment of Adrian Hope, whose excellent-niece, Woman Beatrice Lister Kaye, wore it at her wedding in 1880. In 1935, it featured at yet another marriage, when Michael Parsons, 6th Earl of Rosse, himself a descendent of the illustrious Hopes gave it to his bride, the then Anne Armstrong-Jones. The bracelet is a fitting marriage token the lion proffering its paw to Eros is an allegory, expressing that enjoy conquers all.’

The National Belief Photolibrary / Alamy Inventory Photograph

Messel grew up in the bucolic surroundings of the Nymans estate in Sussex, the granddaughter of the famed Punch cartoonist Edward Linley Sambourne. She went on to marry Ronald Armstrong-Jones in 1925, in advance of divorcing him and remarrying the subsequent year, this time to Michael Parsons, 6th Earl of Rosse, shifting with him to Birr Castle in Ireland. The couple experienced two sons.

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Her son from her 1st marriage, Antony Armstrong-Jones, married Princess Margaret in 1960, with the Countess famously carrying the Rosse loved ones diamond and emerald parure, comprising a tiara, necklace and earrings, to the marriage (her oyster-coloured silk brocade coat was also reportedly deemed an unconventional decision for the Mom of the Groom). She was recently portrayed in time two of The Crown by actress Anna Chancellor, with Peter Morgan focussing on the estrangement concerning mom and son, and her enthusiasm for his royal wedding.

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One of the founders of the Victorian Modern society (which inspired the preservation and analyze of art and architecture from the time period), her appreciation for society and the arts was shared by her brother, the celebrated theatrical designer Oliver Messel, as nicely as her son, who became a pointed out culture photographer, and her grandchildren, David Armstrong-Jones, 2nd Earl of Snowdon and Lady Sarah Chatto, who also pursued artistic careers. She was also known for her really like of vogue, amassing parts by designers together with Charles James, Pucci, Molyneux and Schiaparelli, with some of her dresses by the former appearing in a Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibition in 2014.

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