The drawing came first: a single wing, painted in white gouache on black paper, at the size of a woman’s head.
Then a wax model, then the platinum frame, pierced by hand into 1,214 tiny seats. Each stone was set under a microscope by two setters working in turns.
The finished tiara can be taken apart into a brooch and two combs. It took two thousand hours, and it weighs 94 grams.
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