EDINBURGH.- A dazzling selection of gold from the Royal Collection has gone on display in Scotland for the first time in a new exhibition at The Queen's Gallery, Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh. It includes exquisite items of jewellery and personal accessories that give an insight into the tastes of six generations of Queens and Consorts.

Gold, which opened (Friday, 27 March), explores and celebrates the qualities of the rare and precious metal through over 60 items from across the breadth of the Royal Collection. Over millennia and across diverse cultures, the material has been used to represent and reflect royal wealth and power, and many of the sacred and ceremonial items associated with the coronations of British monarchs incorporate gold. Other exhibition highlights include the Rillaton gold cup from a Bronze Age burial around 1700–1500 BC, a gold crown from Ecuador that pre-dates the Inca invasion, and a tiger's head in gold and rock crystal (1785–93) from the throne of Tipu Sultan, ruler of Mysore in India.

Gold has also been used to create items of personal adornment, luxury collectable objects and even family mementos. A finely engraved gold bracelet, made by royal goldsmiths Rundell, Bridge & Rundell and dating from 1839, incorporates a miniature portrait of Queen Victoria by Henry Pierce Bone. It is set with diamonds to symbolise eternity, rubies to indicate passion, and a snake's head for wisdom, and is thought to have been intended as a gift from the Queen to a lady-in-waiting or close relation.

In the 19th century, jewellers used gold to explore new and experimental decorative techniques. A gold bracelet containing an oval miniature of the two-year-old Princess Mary of Cambridge (great-grandmother of Her Majesty The Queen) was machine cut from a single sheet of rolled metal and decorated with scrolling foliage. The bracelet was later acquired by her daughter Queen Mary (1867–1953), who had a keen interest in genealogy. She also purchased a gold bracelet produced to mourn the death in childbirth of George IV's only child, Princess Charlotte of Wales (1796–1817), at the age of 21. Mounted with a portrait cameo, the bracelet is formed from a technique known as cannetille – fine wires of gold woven into elaborate designs – and decorated with granulation, tiny beads of gold, or grainti, fused to a gold base.

One of the most elaborate accessories on display is a pair of gold opera glasses made by Tiffany & Co. and presented as a wedding gift to King George V and Queen Mary in 1893 when Duke and Duchess of York. Tiffany was well known for its production of luxury goods, but opera glasses made of gold were particularly rare. The glasses are adorned with pearls and rose-cut diamonds, and have a decorative surface produced by 'engine turning' – a fashionable method of texturing metal employed by both Tiffany and Fabergé in the 19th century.

One of the earliest items of jewellery in the exhibition is a 16th-century commesso (a cameo combined with gold to create a pendant). The piece is in the form of a female bust dressed in a tunic and turban, and is decorated with ruby, garnet, emerald and amethyst. It was recorded as being kept in the seventh drawer of a cabinet at Kensington Palace in a list of 'curiosities' belonging to Queen Caroline (1683–1737), consort of George II.

A gold and diamond-set 'keeper ring', which served as a guard to a wedding ring, was presented to Queen Charlotte (1744–1818) by George III on their wedding day on 8 September 1761. It is displayed alongside a gold and diamond ring also belonging to Queen Charlotte.

Exhibition curator Kathryn Jones of Royal Collection Trust, said 'These works of art show the personal associations that royal consorts have had with jewelled gold across several generations. We are delighted to display them for the first time in Scotland, as part of this exhibition of items from the Royal Collection crafted from this rare and precious material.'