Elizabeth I Tiara replica Pelican Portrait Crown

This tiara is my replica of the crown worn by Elizabeth 1st in the "Pelican portrait".
I make historical replica jewellery for reenactment, theatre, film and cosplay.

The tiara is hand crafted and adorned with sewn faux ivory pearls and red, clear and black crystals.

The Pelican Portrait is an oil painting of Elizabeth I of England on a wood panel, named for the pelican pendant shown on Elizabeth's breast. It is generally attributed to Nicholas Hilliard, on the basis of a scientific study and similarities to his other work.
The work was painted around 1575, when Queen Elizabeth was about forty-two. Its name comes from a rich jewel shown on her breast: a pendant in the form of a pelican in her piety. The female pelican was then believed to feed its young with blood from its own body, and the one in the pendant has its wings outstretched and is pecking its breast. This is taken as an allusion to Elizabeth as a self-sacrificing mother of the English nation, and the Queen was herself fond of the symbolism of the pelican.
In the portrait Elizabeth is magnificently dressed and is wearing other elaborate jewellery. On her right upper arm is a decorated armlet. Her headdress and velvet gown are richly bejewelled, especially with large pearls, which are a symbol of chastity and link the Queen to Artemis, the goddess of the Moon and chastity in Greek mythology.

I also make the necklace and pelican piety brooch in separate listings.