Re: Empress Eugenie's Feuilles de Groseillier brooch auctioned Archived Message
Posted by Arthur on October 9, 2014, 8:05 am, in reply to "Empress Eugenie's Feuilles de Groseillier brooch auctioned"
Wow! I always feel a shiver in my spine when I see one of these historical jewels resurface! I really hope that the Louvre Museum will try (and succeed in) to buy this brooch!!! The 'parure de groseillier' (currant leaf parure) of the French Crown Jewels was made in 1855 by Bapst for Empress Eugénie, wife of Napoleon III. According to the description made in Bernard Morel's book Les Joyaux de la Couronne de France, the parure included: - a 'garland', which could be used as a necklace, made of 16 brooches in the shape of currant leaves. Each brooch was detachable and could be worn on its own. The nine frontal brooches and the clasp brooch had 16 "pampilles" (lines of diamond collets) dangling from them. The brooch which is to be sold at Christie's in November is one of these brooches - a 'tour de corsage' (corsage girdle) made of 29 diamond currant leaves, alternating with large diamond collets, around a central group of three currant leaves centred on a 16.95 carat diamond. This diamond had formerly been mounted on Napoleon I’s swords in 1803 and 1812 and on Charles X’s hat’s cockade in 1824. Large pear-shaped diamonds were hooked to each currant leaf and to each diamond collet. In the whole, this girdle included more than 5000 diamonds! - a large devant-de-corsage brooch, made at the top of three currant leaves centred around a large 20.03 carat diamond which had been previously mounted on Empress Marie-Louise’s diamond hair comb and on the frontal arch of King Charles X’s crown. Hanging from this top group are an extra currant leaf and seven groups of diamonds forming currant grapes. The parure did not include a tiara, a bracelet or a pair of earrings. But of course, Empress Eugénie owned a lot of other diamond jewels that she could combine with the currant leaf parure. When the Government of the Third Republic decided to sell the Crown Jewels at auction in 1887, it was decided to divide the garland and the girdle into several pieces (the republican authorities probably considered that these jewels were so large and extraordinary that it would be almost impossible to sell them in two single lots). The garland was divided into 8 lots, several of them being bought by Bapst, Garrard or Tiffany. The corsage girdle was divided into several lots, but all of them were bought by Tiffany, who also bought the large devant-de-corsage brooch. Here is a picture of this parure, exhibited in 1884, along with other diamond jewels (on the second picture, I have identified in red the elements of the currant leaf parure): Here are pictures of the parure prior to the auction in 1887: - the garland, divided into several brooches (I think that the brooch which is to be auctioned in November is the one on the top right of the picture): - the corsage girdle, also divided into several sections: - the devant-de-corsage: Several brooches from the garland were seen in exhibitions or in auctions in the recent years: - auction at Sotheby’s, on 29th June 2004: http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2004/jewels-antique-period-and-contemporary-l04053/lot.78.html - exhibition in Brussels, Belgium "Brilliant Europe, Jewels of the European courts" (October 2007-February 2008). The brooch was reported in the catalogue as being part of a private collection: - exhibition in Antwerp, Belgium, "Diamond Divas" (April-June 2008): the brooch which is to be sold at auction next November was exhibited. It was loaned by New-York’s Metropolitan Opera Guild: - auction at Doyle’s, New York, in 2011: http://www.doylenewyork.com/asp/fullcatalogue.asp?salelot=11JL02+++308+&refno=++804095 I think that this same brooch was diplayed in October 2013 in London at the exhibition "A Brilliant Legacy: Treasures from the Tiffany Archives": http://www.jewelsdujour.com/2013/10/two-exhibitions-at-tiffany-co-s-london-boutique/ Apparently, it has been bought back by Tiffany’s. --Previous Message-- : : http://artdaily.com/news/73455/Empress-Eugenie-s-Feuilles-de-Groseillier-brooch-to-be-offered-at-Christie-s-Geneva :
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