The Seton Necklace, the Brooch.

Collection of Her Majesty The Queen, London, 2008

Late 16th cent.

Brooch: enamelled gold, ruby, freshwater pearls

4.9 x 4.6 cm

The brooch is part of a parure together with a necklace and pair of earrings.

The brooch is of gold and white enamel composed as strapwork and set with four pearls and a central ruby in a box setting.

The setting and ornament dates the brooch as c.1589-90 and is the oldest part of the parure.

A 1909 inventory in the Royal Collection, to which the parure has been added at a later date, states that it was given by Mary, Queen of Scots to her attendant Mary Seton.

Mary Seton was a devoted attendant and friend of Mary, Queen of Scots, who shared many years of her exile. She was an excellent hairdresser whose services the Queen greatly admired

The jewels passed eventually to Alexander Seton’s descendant, Archibald William, 13th Earl of Eglinton (1812-1861). This may have been for the celebrated Eglinton Tournament, held by the 13th Earl at Eglinton Castle in 1839

The parure remained in the possession of the Eglinton family until it was sold, together with the Eglinton family jewels, by the three daughters of the 13th Earl, Egidia, Sybil and Hilda, in 1894 at Christie’s on 22 February 1894 (lot 69).

It was acquired by Algernon Borthwick, 1st Baron Glenesk (1830-1908) whose daughter, Lilias Countess Bathurst (d.1965), presented the parure to Queen Mary on the occasion of King George V’s Silver Jubilee in May 1935.