Emeralds taking flight - the earrings and dragonfly brooch of the Countess of Rosse

Anne, Countess of Rosse wearing the Rosse emerald and diamond parure, as well as a diamond collet necklace, circa 1930s.

Anne Parsons, Countess of Rosse (née Messel, previously Armstrong-Jones; 8 February 1902, Paddington – 3 July 1992, Sussex), was an English socialite and one of the founders of The Victorian Society. She was the sister of theatrical designer Oliver Messel, and the mother of Antony Armstrong-Jones, 1st Earl of Snowdon by her first marriage, and Brendan Parsons, 7th Earl of Rosse by her second. 

The emerald and diamond dragonfly brooch, set en tremblant, was created in 1911 for the previous Countess of Rosse, Lois Parsons, later Viscountess de Vesci of Abbey Leix. Designed by her father Sir Cecil Lister-Kaye, 4th Bt., and apparently made by Garrard, the piece incorporated a pair of Colombian emerald briolette-cut drops which featured in the earrings that were part of the antique emerald and diamond parure of the Rosse family. The design of the brooch was such that the drops, estimated to weigh approximately twenty-five carats combined, could be conveniently detached from the brooch and put back into their original place in the earrings.

A composite image showing the earrings in their original configuration.

The Countess of Rosse in 1965 wearing the dragonfly brooch.

The earrings themselves remained with the family until 2020, when an altered version of the pair - with rather crudely set briolette-cut amethyst drops replacing the emeralds - was auctioned at Bonhams in London. The brooch, itself - emeralds intact - was put up for auction only three years later.

The Rosse heirloom earrings as sold.

*

Anne, Countess of Rosse wearing the Rosse tiara and necklace, circa 1930s.

The more important pieces in the Rosse emerald and diamond parure were the necklace and tiara. The antique necklace - circa 1870 - was designed as a series of sixteen graduated Colombian emeralds, each surrounded by old mine cut diamonds, alternating with smaller Colombian emeralds with pear-shaped diamond drops, all mounted in silver and gold, and with a diamond-set kite-shaped emerald pendant. The tiara - circa 1885-90 - also mounted in silver and gold, in a modified Kokoshnik design, consists of eight pear-shaped emeralds - some in briolette-cut - pendent within double rows of diamonds, the whole centered on an emerald-cut and a kite-shaped emerald, both surrounded by diamonds. 

Anne, Countess of Rosse wore the full parure - including the intact earrings - at two coronations, that of George VI in 1937, and that of Elizabeth II in 1953. 

The Countess of Rosse dressed for the coronation of Elizabeth II in 1953.

The Rosse tiara and necklace were sold separately at Christie’s in the 1980s.