Crown of the Virgin of the Immaculate Conception, known as the Crown of the Andes. Made for a statue of the Virgin Mary containing 450 emeralds, circa 1660 [3310×3871]

If you’re a dude and a virgin you get laughed at.

If you’re a woman and a virgin they give you a crown. So unfair

Made by whom, I wonder?

I remember watching a neat video with Adam Savage talking to Met Museum experts who worked on preserving this crown by building a stronger metal support to follow along the interior of the arches — if you zoom in you can see it in on the left & especially the right on the inside of the arches — that thick gold that almost looks like soldering. Helps to keep the otherwise delicate arches from collapsing in under their own weight. Was neat seeing how much care went into perfectly sculpting that support to navigate around details in the crown, such as the dangling gems on the top underside.

Edit: Found it, if anyone’s interested..!
https://youtu.be/yf48x0EN-ls?si=Xg49fe-aPg96KIrh