[QUEEN ELIZABETH II] HARTNELL, NORMAN. Panel of embroidery, a prototype for the Coronation Dress of Queen Elizabeth II, 1953.
Presentation inscription with a drawing containing a key to the emblems in the design mounted to the back panel of the frame, from Norman Hartnell, the couturier who designed the Dress, to Madame Isabelle, who helped construct it: "To Madame Isabelle (Mrs. Fowler) I inscribe this memento of the dress I designed and made for the Coronation of the most Gracious Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in Westminster Abbey on June 2nd 1953. With gratitude Norman Hartnell," The sample 11 1/4 x 9 inches (28 x 28 cm); white satin, embroidered with the nine floral emblems of the Commonwealth lavishly embroidered in silk and pearl, encrusted with faux gems. About fine. Framed.

Hartnell submitted a number of designs for the Coronation gown to the future Queen (whose main stipulation was that the dress should be white satin), before the design in which the present sample was used was approved. The flowers depicted are the English Tudor rose, the Scottish thistle, the Welsh leek, the Irish shamrock, the Canadian maple leaf, the Indian lotus flower, Pakistani wheat, cotton and jute, the Australian wattle flower, the New Zealand silver fern and the South African protea, with the royal "ER" cipher embroidered at the foot of the spray. Hartnell was knighted for his services at the time of the Silver Jubilee, in 1977. Sold with a copy of the Daily Mirror Coronation Souvenir and several other pieces of royal ephemera.

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