The Portland Tiara is a Cartier piece created from an antique diamond devant de corsage, a bodice ornament converted into a tiara. It was worn by Winifred, Duchess of Portland, at the coronation of Edward VII on 9 August 1902.
The Coronation
The coronation of 1902 was a significant moment for the Cartier family's business. London's aristocracy required tiaras for the ceremony, and the demand helped establish the firm's reputation in England in the years before Cartier London opened its own premises. The Duchess of Portland, who was reportedly nearly six feet tall, served as one of four canopy bearers at the coronation. She wore the tiara for the occasion, its scale well suited to her stature and the formality of the event.
The Devant de Corsage Conversion
The practice of converting older jewels into new forms was common in this period. A devant de corsage, worn pinned to the bodice of a dress, could be remounted as a tiara by resetting the stones into a new frame designed to sit on the head. The Portland Tiara is an example of this kind of transformation, characteristic of the Garland Style period when Cartier frequently reworked clients' existing diamonds into lighter, more contemporary settings using platinum.
Sources
- Francesca Cartier Brickell, The Cartiers (Ballantine Books, 2019)
