Posted by Boris on October 14, 2012, 3:39 am, in reply to "Imperial emeralds "
It's most unfortunate that the ‚Imperial emeralds’ don’t exist in this form anymore. Preserving the original diamonds in their setting but removing the emeralds to create other pieces was a particularly strange move by Van Cleef & Arpels considering such a historic piece. Particularly around the bottom, the design of the tiara (actually a full circlet) simply does not work without the lustre of translucent stones, IMHO. This is how it looks today:
--Previous Message-- : Wedding present from Napoleon to his second : wife, empress Marie-Louise. The empress left : the parure to archduchess Elisabeth. : It was sold in 1953 by her descendants to : Van Cleef and Arpels who removed : dramatically the emeralds from the tiara to : create new jewels and replaced them by : turquoises. : The tiara was bought later by Marjorie : Merryweather Post for the Smithsonian : Institution of Washington where it's now on : display. : The necklace and earrings have been acquired : by the Louvre, no idea of the whereabouts of : the belt buckle : : : Uploaded with ImageShack.us :
on October 14, 2012, 3:39 am, in reply to "