On Thursday 22 October, Lyon & Turnbull gifts us over 130 delectable gems in their ‘Select Jewellery & Watches’ auction. While there are many stars of the sale, a few lots in particular stands out, including an exquisite bracelet, brooch and earring suite by René Lalique from the collection of Mrs Florence Evelyn St George (née Baker, 1870-1936), one of the most celebrated and talked about socialites of her time.
Evelyn was born in New York in 1870 to George Fisher Baker, the founder of the First National Bank of the City of New York and, at one point, the third richest man in the United States. At 21, against her father’s wishes, Evelyn married the Irish land agent Howard St George and set off to Dublin. Here, Evelyn was introduced to the artist William Orpen and her life took a dramatic turn.
Orpen (1878-1931) was a celebrated Irish artist best known for his Edwardian society portraits, which today can command hundreds of thousands on the auction market. Him and Evelyn began a passionate – and public – affair in about 1908, which is documented in numerous paintings of her by Orpen at the time. She became his muse and patron, commissioning many portraits of herself and her children, one of whom was alleged to have been fathered by Orpen.
Their relationship became the talk of much gossip, particularly as Evelyn was a foot taller and eight years Orpen’s senior, something Orpen depicted in humorous sketches. He also depicted her as a fashionable woman, sporting exotic hats and fine jewels. Evelyn took yearly visits to Paris with her brother George to purchase all the latest fashions. During these trips, she frequented luxury jewellers of the period, such as René Lalique, where she commissioned unique and beautiful pieces.
The Lalique bracelet, brooch and earring suite to be offered by Lyon & Turnbull is likely to have come from one of these trips. It is the first time the pieces are being offered to the market, having been bought as a ‘collier de chien’, or choker, by Evelyn at the beginning of the 20th century and passed down through her family since. At some stage, the choker was shortened into a bracelet, likely because of changes in fashion, and the leftover components were converted into the beautiful navette-shaped brooch and pair of ear studs.
The bracelet retains its original Lalique signature and inimitable style. A few other Lalique chokers were created between 1900 and 1910 with this same trelliswork pattern, with varying materials and motifs. In this bracelet’s curved lattice design is carved green glass cabochons with green enamel backing, each corner collet-set with an old brilliant-cut diamond between black enamel bar connectors.
Other emerald pieces featured in the auction include a pair of emerald and diamond earrings. Each is set with a cut-cornered step-cut emerald, weighing 4.02 and 4.27 carats respectively, within a tiered brilliant-cut diamond surround to a diamond-set hook. Another is an emerald and diamond ring, the cut-cornered rectangular-cut emerald, weighing 14.53 carats to a single-cut diamond-set bifurcated shouldered and surround.
One of the other standout lots from the sale is this diamond and coloured diamond pendant necklace by Graff. The exquisite pear-shaped rose-cut diamond is H in colour and weighs an incredible 15.5 carats. It is suspended from a collet-set brilliant-cut pink diamond surmount and is set between brilliant-cut diamond two-stone sides on a fine trace-link chain, the clasp of which is signed Graff.
You can be guaranteed to find even more sumptuous jewels, as well as watches, in Lyon & Turnbull’s full catalogue, the sale of which is taking place on 22 October.