LONDON, ENGLAND.- Arts Minister, Estelle Morris, has placed a temporary export ban on a unique London-made sapphire, emerald and ruby bandeau, or headband, bought in 1928 from the great jewellery house of Cartier by Edwina, Lady Mountbatten. The multi-gem bandeau in the tutti frutti style is in the form of a sinuous creeper, the stem set with diamonds, and the leaves and fruit formed of carved Indian rubies, sapphires and emeralds.

The bandeau is a triumph of Art Deco jewellery manufacture in the capital. One of the finest surviving London-made multi-gem jewels, it is an object of pre-eminent importance to the history of jewellery in England between the two World Wars. The bandeau was made by English Art Works, a company established in 1922 and deliberately staffed with British craftsmen by Cartier in response to depression-era unemployment in the jewellery industry. It is a documented and dated product of a great jewellery house, whose rich colour combinations in multi-gem jewels represent the beautiful and creative flowering of Art Deco jewellery, a period justly celebrated for the distinction of its ornaments. There is no multi-gem Art deco jewel of comparable significance in a British public collection.

The bandeau can also be seen as a symbol of Lady Mountbatten's colourful life. The god-daughter of Edward VII, she was a woman of independent mind and great wealth, who became a leader of fashion between the two World Wars. Although clearly an object at the very height of fashion, the bandeau equally reflects Lady Mountbatten's interest in India, and its Indian stones must surely have had resonances for her. As a young woman in love with Lord Louis, but not yet in receipt of her inheritance, she had had to borrow £100 from her great-aunt in order to sail to India to see him while he was aide-de-camp to the Prince of Wales. It was here that their engagement was announced in February 1922. Later, as Vicereine, she witnessed the end of British rule in the sub-continent. The bandeau itself was the piece which, in the form of two bracelets, she chose to highlight in a studio portrait on the birth of her second child.

The Minister's ruling today follows a recommendation by the Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art that the export decision be deferred. The deferral will enable purchase offers to be made to purchase the bandeau at the following agreed market price:

A multi-gem Cartier bandeau, 1928, deferred at the recommended price of £300,000 (excluding VAT), until 27 December with the possibility of an extension until after 27 February if there is a serious intention to raise funds with a view to making an offer to purchase.

Anyone interested in making an offer to purchase the bandeau should contact the owner's agent through:

The Secretary
The Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art
Department for Culture, Media and Sport
2-4 Cockspur Street
London
SW1Y 5DH