The rapper collaborated with the brand on diamond-encrusted sunglasses that look curiously similar to a pair from the Mughal Empire that featured in a Sotheby’s sale.
Entertainer Pharrell and jewelry brand Tiffany & Co. are in the hot seat after eagle-eyed Internet sleuths spotted a curious similarity worn by Pharrell at yesterday’s Kenzo show.
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“Tiffany and I are engaged,” said the rapper, while wearing an eye-catching pair of custom-designed Tiffany & Co. sunglasses in 18k gold with “61 round brilliant diamonds of over 25 total carats and two emerald-cut emeralds,” as per the brand’s Instagram post.
People noticed the unusual coincidence with a rare pair of diamond spectacles owned (presumably) by royals during the Mughal Empire. The glasses were part of Sotheby’s Arts of the Islamic World & India auction in London on October 27.
The Internet arbiter of fashion scandals, @diet_prada soon had a post up, explaining the situation. As of yet, neither Pharrell nor Tiffany & Co. has released a notice regarding the similarity.
The diamond pair is named the “Halo of Light,” with the diamond lenses having come from a single 200-carat diamond found in Golconda (located in the present-day states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana). The green pair or the “Gates of Paradise,” on the other hand, have lenses cut from a Columbian emerald weighing over 300 carats.
Little is known about who exactly owned them, but Edward Gibbs, chairman of Sotheby’s Middle East and India, called them an exceptionally rare example of Mughal jewelry craftsmanship.
He speculated their provenance to an emperor, a member of his inner circle or one of his high-ranking courtiers. “Any gemstone of this size, magnitude, or value would have been brought straight to the Mughal court,” Gibbs said.
Sotheby’s placed an estimation of 2.1 million for the “Halo of Light,” while “Gates of Paradise was expected to fetch to $3.5 million. According to CNN, the function of the glasses was “to help the wearer reach enlightenment and ward off evil.”
