Brooch, part of a parure including a necklace and pair of bangles, 36.76/3, 36.76/4 and 36.76/5. The jewellery is made of engraved silver with openwork centrepieces with sprays of rose, thistle and shamrock, set with shaped Iona marble. The brooch is set with shaped ornamental plaques of marble within engraved silver cells. The parure has a royal provenance and this, coupled with the royal emblems with which it is decorated, suggests that it must have been a presentation piece to Queen Victoria from a Scottish jeweller. For an account of Queen Victoria’s attachment to her Scottish Estate at Balmoral, see Millar 1985.
