London:
A diamond bracelet and jewelled decorative elephants from Jaipur are some of the Indian heirlooms that make up a collection of 350 individual products belonging to Patricia Mountbatten, the eldest daughter of Lord Louis Mountbatten – the final Viceroy of India – which will go below the hammer in London in March.
Patricia Edwina Victoria Mountbatten was the Second Countess Mountbatten of Burma and had a robust royal connection as the terrific-terrific-granddaughter of Queen Victoria and very first cousin to Prince Philip, the 99-year-old husband of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II.
The Sotheby’s auction in London, with estimates ranging from 80 pounds to one hundred,000 pounds, involves quite a few products inherited from her ancestors sharing connections with India, a spot that was stated to be pretty unique to the loved ones.
“Lady Mountbatten’s residence, Newhouse, was a private place for entertaining only the closest of family and friends, capturing all the magic of a stately home on an intimate scale,” stated Harry Dalmeny, Sotheby’s Chairman, UK & Ireland.
“Through her belongings, many passed down from members of the extended family over the years, collectors have the chance to see the story of the 20th century unfold and acquire evocative vestiges of a glittering way of life,” he stated.
Patricia Mountbatten’s Indian connection was not just as the daughter of Lord and Lady Mountbatten but also on her husband John Knatchbull’s side of the loved ones as his father (Michael Knatchbull) spent 4 months as India’s youngest Viceroy in 1938. John himself worked for Louis Mountbatten in India and later became an Oscar-nominated film producer, behind the effectively-recognized Raj era epic ‘A Passage to India”.
The Indian heirlooms up for auction contain a diamond set and enamelled gold bracelet produced in India, that when belonged to Queen Victoria. The bracelet involves a portrait of Victoria’s husband Albert, as a kid, and would have been commissioned by the monarch herself. This was then passed down via Victoria’s descendants to Louis Mountbatten and then to his daughter Patricia.
A British Raj era Imperial Order of the Crown of India, estimated in between 15,000 pounds and 20,000 pounds, was offered to Patricia’s mother-in-law Doreen, wife of a single-time Viceroy Michael Knatchbull.
A pair of gold and enamel elephants produced in Jaipur and valued in between 2,000 pounds and 3,000 pounds have been offered by Louis Mountbatten to his wife, Edwina, as a present to mark their 24th wedding anniversary in 1946. They are engraved on the base with the words “Edwina from Dickie” in Louis” handwriting. The pair had turn into engaged at Viceroy’s House in Delhi in 1922.
“The loving gift is an insight into their marriage – one that had brought together two of the most glamorous and adventurous figures of the period – and testament to the importance of India to both of them. 1946 was the year Lord Mountbatten was made a Viscount and this gift anticipates the news of his appointment as Viceroy the following year,” notes a statement from Sotheby’s.
A “Tutti Frutti” style set of jewels in the collection, valued in between 40,000 pounds and 60,000 pounds, belonged to Edwina Mountbatten, who is stated to have had a distinct penchant for this style that took inspiration from Indian reduce-coloured gems.
The auction also involves a lot produced up of a uncommon Anglo-Indian inlaid bureau by Thomas Chippendale, produced in 1767 and passed down via the Knatchbull loved ones, also valued in between 40,000 pounds and 60,000 pounds.
“Our overriding desire when organising our mother’s affairs is to honour her wishes and celebrate the memory of both our mother and our father. They had discussed these arrangements with us, and we are simply putting their plans into effect. We are of course keeping many things and importantly amongst these are objects which are of sentimental value and much loved,” reads a statement from the Mountbatten loved ones, in reference to the auction scheduled for March 24.
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