The tiara is among the rarest forms in the body of work of JAR, the Paris maison founded by Joel Arthur Rosenthal in 1977 at 7 Place Vendôme. JAR tiaras and head ornaments are made only on commission, and very few have been documented at auction or in exhibition. Their rarity, combined with their place at the apex of the haute joaillerie tradition, has made the JAR tiaras among the most discussed pieces in the maison's output.

The Form

A tiara, in the European sense, is a head ornament worn at the front of the head with a curved bandeau that follows the line of the hair. Tiaras in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries were almost universally constructed from a steel or platinum frame set with diamonds and worn at formal court occasions. The form has been treated by every major haute joaillerie house in the twentieth century, with significant tiaras by Cartier, Boucheron, Van Cleef & Arpels and Chaumet, although the demand for tiaras as everyday wear has steadily declined.

JAR's Treatment

JAR's tiaras adopt the bandeau form but execute it in the maison's signature pavé over blackened silver and gold, sometimes incorporating titanium for weight reduction in the larger pieces. Documented examples include tiaras with floral motifs, with feather and leaf elements, and with abstract geometric arrangements, all rendered with the maison's characteristic gradated colour pavé. Some incorporate detachable elements that can be worn separately as brooches, in keeping with the convertible-tiara tradition of nineteenth-century French haute joaillerie.

Construction is necessarily very light, since the tiara must be wearable comfortably for extended periods. Titanium frames patinated black support pavé surfaces in a small number of the larger pieces, and the convertible elements are mounted on detachable fittings.

Notable Examples

A small number of JAR tiaras have been documented through exhibition and auction provenance. The Metropolitan Museum of Art's 2013 retrospective Jewels by JAR included a JAR tiara of pavé leaves in coloured sapphire and diamond. Other tiaras and head ornaments have appeared at auction with documented private commissions. Each example is unique.