Emerald pendant, c.1860-70. English. Gold, Colombian emerald, enamel, diamonds, woven material, possibly hair, behind the emerald, 9 x 3.7 cm. Purchased by Queen Mary. RCIN 52283. The Royal Collection © 2012, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

Large table-cut hexagonal emerald, set and backed in gold; surrounded by a frame with white, black, blue, green and red champlevé; enamel cartouches with rosettes alternating with six table-cut diamonds. From a large red and blue enamel suspension loop and a small red enamel loop at the bottom is suspended a lozenge-shaped pendant set with four table-cut diamonds. The gold backing of the emerald is inscribed:Elizabeth R.

According to the Catalogue of Additions to the King’s Audience Room, started in 1914, the pendant was ‘formerly the property of Frederick Duke of York; and by him made over to Mr. Bridge (of the Royal goldsmiths, Rundell & Bridge) and purchased from his descendants by Queen Mary in 1916. The emerald is presumed to have been among Queen Elizabeth’s jewels.’ The entry can only refer to the stone as the mount is later.

Although the cut of the emerald is sixteenth century and Queen Mary acquired the pendant on the basis of the stone’s traditional association with Elizabeth I, its early history remains undocumented. The inscription on the reverse is a facsimile of Elizabeth I’s signature and was probably engraved c.1860-70, at a time when jewels and relics associated with Queen Elizabeth I and Mary, Queen of Scots, were much sought after by antiquarians.