Spanish Inquisition Necklace - Provenance

Provenance

The emeralds threaded onto the necklace were originally mined in Colombia. The diamonds were mined in India. While the necklace's gemstones are believed to have been cut in India in the 17th century, the early history of the necklace itself is unknown. American jeweller Harry Winston, who named the necklace, claimed that it was owned first by Spanish royalty. However, the first recorded owner of the piece was Tukoji Rao III, Maharaja of Indore, then a Princely State within India, in the early 20th century. Upon his abdication, the necklace was passed to his son, Yashvantrao II, who took up his father's throne.

In 1947, Yashvantrao sold the necklace to Harry Winston. Winston loaned the necklace out that year to actress Katharine Hepburn, who wore it to the 19th Academy Awards ceremony. The necklace formed part of Winston's "Court of Jewels", a nationally touring exhibition of jewels and jewellery including the Hope Diamond and the Star of the East. In 1955, Winston sold the necklace to Cora Hubbard Williams of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Williams held the necklace until 1972, when she bequeathed it to the Smithsonian Institution. Since then, it has been on display in the Janet Annenberg Hooker Hall of Geology, Gems and Minerals of the National Museum of Natural History in the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C.