A pair of mid-Victorian diamond drop earrings once belonging to Viscountess Gwladys Chaplin, and immortalised in a 1915 portrait by society painter Philip de László, are set to go under the hammer in Roseberys' Jewellery auction on Tuesday 23 September.

Lot 326: A pair of mid Victorian diamond drop earrings, each with a pear-shape cluster drop
Estimate: £6,000 - £8,000

The earrings (Lot 326), each with a pear-shaped cluster drop centred with old-cut diamonds, carry an estimate of £6,000-£8,000. What makes them exceptional is their provenance: they are the same jewels depicted in de László’s celebrated portrait of the Hon. Gwladys Alice Gertrude Chaplin (née Wilson), painted while her husband, Eric Chaplin, 2nd Viscount Chaplin, was serving in the First World War with the Queen’s Own Staffordshire Yeomanry. 

Philip de László portrait of Viscountess Chaplin

Gwladys was widely admired in Edwardian and interwar society and in amateur theatrical circles. She was a keen sportswoman and motorist, and was noted as being one of the first Society women to drive her own car. At her marriage to Eric Chaplin, contemporary newspapers rhapsodised over her beauty

“She is lustrously beautiful, a rose in its first bloom, a Lady Hamilton, only a little more opulent, a voluptuous, intensely attractive, and altogether bewitching bride,” said an article in The Daily Telegraph, Sydney, on September 22nd 1905. The article described her as “a bride without jewels” on account of her lack of wedding adornments. 

It was this luminous charm that de László captured in his 1915 portrait, with the diamond earrings providing a focal point. According to family lore, the artist himself even lent Gwladys a string of pearls for the sitting, which she disliked. The portrait was exhibited at the French Gallery in Pall Mall in 1924, where a contemporary review noted Lady Chaplin’s  “brilliantly green jade bangle and long diamond earrings with her ivory-tinted evening dress.” 

“This is an incredibly rare instance where jewels seen in a signed portrait by a major artist come to market,” said Catrin Jones, Head of Jewellery at Roseberys. “These earrings are wearable pieces of social history.”  

Lot 335: A pair of 19th century and later natural pearl and diamond earrings
Estimate: £6,000 - £8,000

Further highlights from the sale include an exceptional pair of 19th century natural pearl earrings, as well as a Victorian gold enamel and gem-set serpent necklace produced around 1840. 

Lot 327: A Victorian gold enamel and gem-set serpent necklace, the head of the serpent set with a ruby
Estimate: £5,000 - £7,000

Moving forwards to the twentieth century, an Aries zodiac pendant by Cartier and Van Cleef workmaster Georges Lenfant, is expected to catch the eye of collectors.

Lot 78: Georges Lenfant. An Aries zodiac pendant, of panel form, with textured ram
Estimate: £2,000 - £3,000