Princess Ashraf Pahlavi of Iran | Jewels

On October 26, 1919, Ashraf Pahlavi was born in Tehran, five hours after her brother Mohammed Reza. Her parents were Reza Pahlavi, a military commander, who would become the Shah of Persia, and Taj al-Malouk, the second of his four wives. Ashraf Pahlavi, her older sister Shams, and their mother were among the first notable Iranian women to stop using the traditional veil in the early 1930s. By taking part in the Tehran Teachers College graduation ceremony on January 8, 1936, she and her mother and sister made a significant symbolic contribution to the Kashfi hijab, the eradication of the veil, which was a part of the Shah's endeavor to incorporate women in public society. The first husband of Princess Ashraf Pahlavi was Mirza Ali Mohammed Khan Govam. They got married in March of 1937 and got divorced in 1942. Ahmed Chafik Bey, who passed away from cancer in Tehran in 1976, was the subject of her second marriage. On June 5, 1960, Mehdi Bashiri, the director of the Maison d'Iran, House of Iran, Paris, married him for the third and last time in the Iranian embassy in Paris. At the coronation ball of her twin brother Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, she wore a Van Cleef Appels ruby and diamond tiara. She wed Mehdi Bashiri for the third time in Paris in 1960. The bride wore a brand new, significant sapphire necklace that was possibly a family member's wedding gift. A detachable pear-shaped pendant suspended from the center is set with a step-cut sapphire weighing 38.16 carats in a border of brilliant cut diamonds. The piece is made of platinum and gold and bears French gold and pendant marks. A sapphire and diamond brooch by Van Cleef Appels in the shape of a camellia flower head is also visible in the bridal photo. Designed in the shape of a flower blossom, with a secular-cut diamond cluster at the center and overlapping oval-cut sapphire petals radiating from it. It was mounted in platinum and gold and was extremely trendy in the 1960s. The second wife of the Shah and former Queen of Iran, Princess Soraya, held a different color of the camellia brooch. A striking cushion-shaped ruby fringe decorates the front of this necklace, which is topped by a foliate cluster encrusted with diamonds. This necklace was originally held by Iranian Princess Ashraf Pahlavi. Oval rubies are mounted in platinum on the back within frames of brilliant-cut diamonds. The princess's diamond and ruby tiara perfectly complements the ruby cluster necklace as seen in the photo. The necklace was purchased at Sotheby's, Geneva, in the year 2000. At her brother's coronation in 1967, Princess Ashraf was among the imperial family women who donned emeralds and diamonds. Her jewelry set included a tiara, earrings, and a brooch. Princess Ashraf Pahlavi of Iran received diamond ear pendants, jewels with pear-shaped diamonds, and diamond-set petals in the style of fuchsia from Van Cleef & Arpels. Eight pear-shaped diamonds totaling 8.40 carats are suspended from the whimsical flower heads, which are set with round and baguette diamonds totaling 10 carats.