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Lot Essay
The Bathurst Jewels
Property from the late Gloria, Countess Bathurst (1927-2018)
The epitome of style and glamour, Lady Bathurst was a successful model in the late 1940s and 1950s, working for couturiers such as Jacques Fath and Christian Dior as well as featuring on the pages of Vogue and going on to become known as Britain’s ‘most perfect outdoor girl’.
Born Gloria Clarry, Lady Bathurst first married lawyer David Rutherston (1925-1975) in 1965, son of the artist Albert Rutherston (1881-1953). Following the death of her first husband in 1975, Gloria married Henry, 8th Earl Bathurst (1927-2011) in 1978 and moved to his family seat, Cirencester Park, Gloucestershire. It is at an early party at Cirencester Park that she is photographed wearing the magnificent Bathurst Tiara attributed to Cartier (Lot 236), commissioned by the Morning Post heiress, Lilias, Countess Bathurst (the 8th Earl’s grandmother), illustrated in the coming pages.
The jewellery offered here (Lots 224-236), was commissioned or acquired by successive generations of the Bathurst family. From pearls thought to be a gift from Queen Anne to Catherine, wife of 1st Earl Bathurst (1684-1775) – always considered a great heirloom, these pearls (Lot 228) feature in several family portraits of ladies of the Bathurst family – through to the striking Art Deco pendant watch by Cartier (Lot 224) given as token of love by Lord Apsley, the Bathurst heir, to his bride in the early 1920s.
These splendid jewels have never before been offered for sale and this collection, offered alongside a dedicated collection sale being held at Christie's London on 22 July, provides a rare and evocative window on a layered aristocratic collection through the lens of chosen acquisitions, inheritance and personal gifts amassed over a period of three hundred years.
Property from the late Gloria, Countess Bathurst (1927-2018)
The epitome of style and glamour, Lady Bathurst was a successful model in the late 1940s and 1950s, working for couturiers such as Jacques Fath and Christian Dior as well as featuring on the pages of Vogue and going on to become known as Britain’s ‘most perfect outdoor girl’.
Born Gloria Clarry, Lady Bathurst first married lawyer David Rutherston (1925-1975) in 1965, son of the artist Albert Rutherston (1881-1953). Following the death of her first husband in 1975, Gloria married Henry, 8th Earl Bathurst (1927-2011) in 1978 and moved to his family seat, Cirencester Park, Gloucestershire. It is at an early party at Cirencester Park that she is photographed wearing the magnificent Bathurst Tiara attributed to Cartier (Lot 236), commissioned by the Morning Post heiress, Lilias, Countess Bathurst (the 8th Earl’s grandmother), illustrated in the coming pages.
The jewellery offered here (Lots 224-236), was commissioned or acquired by successive generations of the Bathurst family. From pearls thought to be a gift from Queen Anne to Catherine, wife of 1st Earl Bathurst (1684-1775) – always considered a great heirloom, these pearls (Lot 228) feature in several family portraits of ladies of the Bathurst family – through to the striking Art Deco pendant watch by Cartier (Lot 224) given as token of love by Lord Apsley, the Bathurst heir, to his bride in the early 1920s.
These splendid jewels have never before been offered for sale and this collection, offered alongside a dedicated collection sale being held at Christie's London on 22 July, provides a rare and evocative window on a layered aristocratic collection through the lens of chosen acquisitions, inheritance and personal gifts amassed over a period of three hundred years.