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    Re: Jewelry of queen Sophie of the Netherlands Archived Message

    Posted by berno on August 12, 2013, 7:16 am, in reply to "Re: Jewelry of queen Sophie of the Netherlands"

    Thanks Lucas! I recall indeed 30 or 40 but it seemed such a vast number that I thought, well 20 or 30 is already a lot to believe.

    Hope Rene Brus provides us with more details in future when he is able to.


    --Previous Message--
    : Yep, that was me .
    : I met René Brus in the late eighties,
    : discussing with him the possibillities of a
    : exhibition of copies of royal crowns, made
    : by him, at Pena palace near Lisbon. When
    : talking about how he was able to create
    : these exact copies, he told me that many
    : courts had allowed him to study the items in
    : detail. In Thailand for instance, the royal
    : crown was set on a teatable in front of him.
    : He was not allowed to touch it, but could
    : study it in detail. In the case of the
    : Netherlands, he copied the crown in situ.
    : Brus also recalled to me the, was it 30 or
    : 40? I don't remember now, parures, but he
    : said that most of the frames were empty, the
    : stones having been used to create new,
    : possibly more modern jewellery. Possibly
    : those empty frames were kept, in case
    : fashion changed again and the old settings
    : could be used once more.
    :
    : --Previous Message--
    :
    : A long time ago someone wrote, I believe on
    : this board, something about Rene brus who
    : apparantly had a glimpse of the royal vaults
    : and (s)he mentioned that, according to Brus,
    : there would be 30 possible tiara bases. It
    : seemed a bit over the edge reading that then
    : at that time and almost wishfull thinking.
    : Is there someone who can confirm the story
    : about Rene Brus?
    :
    :
    : --Previous Message--
    : 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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