Treasure House Fair, an annual event on the London social scene, lures collectors of high luxury, from rare and exquisite jewels to exceptional art, antique silverware, clocks and chandeliers.
The latest edition, staged in a huge white marquee in the grounds of the Royal Hospital, Chelsea in central London from June 24-30, was a magnet for the international glitterati looking to add rare and beautiful items to their collections.
Treasure House Fair is a luxury shopping experience for multi-millionaires, and has become a staple of the London season, lodged between Royal Ascot horse racing, and Queen’s Club and Wimbledon tennis.
Extraordinary Jewels
London’s flagship summer art fair has established itself as the UK’s leading destination for historic and antique jewellery.
Treasure House Fair introduced a roster of leading dealers in jewellery, including Martyn Downer, a former Sotheby’s specialist, and Sandra Cronan.
Martyn Downer, specialist dealer in historic objects and works of art, devoted his stand to a Hamnet-era mourning jewel, rediscovered four centuries after it was immortalised in one of Britain’s most enigmatic and celebrated 17th-century family portraits.
Set within a dramatic scenography, the pendant resonated with another rediscovered piece of history in the booth of Greens of Cheltenham: a 16th-century ring that belonged to a knight close to Henry VIII and Queen Anne, from a family later erased from the history books after its entanglement in the Gunpowder Plot of 1605.
This year’s line-up brought together long-established London specialists, including S.J. Phillips – a 150-year-old Mayfair institution beloved by tastemakers such as celebrated media executive Anna Wintour – and Wartski, the jewellers to The Royal Family whose high-profile commissions included the wedding bands of Their Majesties King Charles and Queen Camilla, as well as that of the Princess of Wales.
Two British Historic Jewels Rediscovered
Hamnet-era mourning jewel identified after four centuries.
Martyn Downer devoted his entire stand – conceived as a dramatic scenography exploring death in the time of Shakespeare – to this Memento Mori jewel long believed lost to history.
Made to commemorate Sir Thomas Aston’s six-year-old son, Robert, who died in 1634, the heart-shaped
pendant poignantly suspends a tassel of the child’s blonde hair.
Sir Thomas is depicted wearing the jewel in the monumental life-size 1635 masterpiece, “Sir Thomas Aston at the Deathbed of His Wife” by John Souch, now in the collection of Manchester Art Gallery.
Although the artist rendered the jewel with remarkable precision, only now – through the discovery of the actual pendant – can its full meaning, details, and inscriptions be understood.
Heart-shaped and surrounded by a golden wreath, the pendant jewel is enamelled in black and white with a head skull and inscriptions in Latin on both sides, translated as: ‛Your Robert died 4th May 1634’ (front) / ‘In whom was our delight, through whom was our consolation, with whom the hope of his parents first perished’ (reverse).
Sir Thomas Tresham’s Signet Ring, circa 1557 Presented by Greens of Cheltenham, London
The gold and crystal ring, of strikingly large proportions and likely intended to be worn over a gloved thumb, was made for Sir Thomas Tresham (d.1559), a knight and one of England’s most ardent Catholic recusants.
A close confidant of Henry VIII and Queen Anne, he was entrusted with some of the monarchs’ most delicate missions – including welcoming Henry’s fourth wife, Anne of Clèves, at Calais.
Among highlights at the booth of dealer Sandra Cronan, were a magnificent Art Deco bracelet featuring orangish yellow diamonds, possibly attributed to American jeweller Raymond Yard, and an early 1960s bracelet, incorporating rubies and diamonds, made for Tiffany by Oscar Heyman.
Here are some more highlights:
The fair was well attended throughout the latest edition, replete with objects for connoisseurs seeking extraordinary items, such as Andy Warhol art, pre-Raphaelite paintings, Victorian chandeliers, Georgian clocks and contemporary, handcrafted Italian boats.