Hair ornament

Hair ornament made of gold wire, stamped and pressed sheet gold, with collet set aquamarines, forming a ribbon tied bouquet of flowers and wheat ears. A screw fitting behind the bow would have secured the bouquet to a horn or metal comb or hairpin.
Published designs and fashion plates confirm that the inspiration for this piece is French. Yet the similarities of workmanship with a comb mount in the collection, 33.86/14, suggest it may be of English origin. Similarities include the stamped leaves, the crown shaped collets encircling the larger stones, formed from the same cast strip as those on the piece below, and the attachments of the separate elements by sliding the hollow tube soldered to the reverse down the wire stems of the bouquet. In both examples, the wheat ears are constructed in groups of three and then attached in this way.