Re: Jewelry of queen Sophie of the Netherlands Archived Message
Posted by John R  on August 11, 2013, 10:28 am, in reply to "Re: Jewelry of queen Sophie of the Netherlands"
Some say the (tiara of) Stars were on loan from Sophie's family in Wurttemberg, others believe the stars may still exist in the Dutch vaults. Confusion arises each time because Alexander's inheritance mentioned a tiara consisting of seven diamond stars....
The Large Pearl Necklace does not seem to be in the posession of the Dutch Royals. They must have been worth a fortune!
The brooch is a very well known piece of course.
The 'Fringe' paiting has always puzzled me. Sophie looks very young, extremely odd (even if we consider she was not the presttiest thing), none of the Jewels match and the portrait is of a rather mediocre quality. A miracle it survived at all IMHO.
The well known Cameo portrait is stunning but again, the tiara is not in the posession of the Dutch Royals. To me it always looks like a wedding portrait.
The Portrait with coronet is also well known and shows the tiara which some claim was used to create the pearl button tiara. I am still not convinced as the motif and spacing of the base is too different from the current one but I seem to be standing alone in this. And before someone claims one of the large leaves was used to create a diamond and pearl leaf brooch: it was not as can be seen in the Winterhalter portrait and other portraits for that matter, it already existed.....
As said, the Ears of Wheat brooches, later a tiara, can be traced with some certainty to the Romanovs as can the diamond bow corsage with the five (!) pink diamonds and pearl pendants. There's a riviere of diamonds that is said to have come from Maria Feodorovna. She was grandmother to both King Willem III and Queen Sophie. Some smaller pieces may very well also have a Russian provenance.
--Previous Message--
: Sophie's jewels were split between her two
: surviving sons Wiwill and Alexander. Wiwill
: sold part of his inheritance, Alexander
: tried to buy most of them back.
:
: Alexander's inheritance went straight to his
: half-sister Wilhelmina. Her mother Emma had
: many of the pieces reset for the young
: queen.
:
: The Peacock Ruby Parure is made from
: diamonds and rubies that belonged to Sophie.
:
: The 5 buttons that have been set on the
: tiara frame to form princess Margriet's
: wedding-tiara and the one Beatrix wore for
: her investiture belonged to Sophie. As did
: the pearl and diamond leaf brooch with
: drops.
: The diamond ears of wheat also were part of
: Sophie's collection.
:
: Some of her pearls were sold, but the big
: pearl necklace probably stems from Sophie,
: as did the diamond rivière of her
: grandmother Empress Maria Feodorovna.
:
:
: The Cameo-tiara disappeared, after her
: death. It wasn't part of the list of jewels
: in Alexander's inheritance. The likeliest
: scenario is that Wiwill inherited and sold
: this piece.
:
: The star tiara of the famous
: Winterhalter-portrait is most likely a piece
: of the Würtemberg-collection and was only
: loaned to Sophie for the portrait.
:
: The diamond fringe tiara is a mystery. I've
: never come across the mentioning of a fringe
: tiara in the Dutch collection. It may simply
: be artistic freedom.
:
: --Previous Message--
: That fringe diadem is really impressive,
: painter's imagination or not. I only know
: Queen Sophie of the Netherlands from the
: middle picture, looking quite sad. The other
: two pictures are new to me.
:
: I believe many jewels were left to her
: eldest son Prince Willem, the Prince of
: Orange (1840-1879). This son broke
: completely with his father and went into a
: self-chosen exile in Paris where much of his
: fortune evaporated. The unmarried Prince
: died in pretty miserable conditions at the
: age of 39. I am afraid a lot of Queen
: Sophie's jewelry went lost via that way.
:
: Queen Sophie also left jewels to her younger
: son, Prince Alexander (1851-1884). This
: prince remained unmarried as well and died
: at the age of 33. Most of his heritage went
: to his halfsister Princess Wilhelmina, the
: later Queen.
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