There was also another small headcrown in the parure, what happened to it, has it been seen since it was sold in 1887 to M. Guillemin ?
--Previous Message-- : In the edition of the magazine Connaissance : des Arts that I mentioned in the previous : thread, published in April 1962 in relation : with the forthcoming exhibition "Ten : centuries of French Jewellery" in the : Louvre Museum in Paris in May 1962, other : interesting pictures of French royal and : imperial jewels (besides the fringe tiara : which is very probably not the 'Russian : Tiara') were published: : : - this picture of the tiara of the ruby and : diamond parure of the Crown jewels, made in : 1816 by the court jeweller Ménière and his : son-in-law Bapst on King Louis XVIII's : request for Marie-Thérèse, Duchess of : Angoulême: : : : : The Duchess of Angoulême was the daughter of : King Louis XVI and Queen Marie-Antoinette, : the sister of the unfortunate Louis XVII, : the niece of Louis XVIII, and the wife of : her first cousin Louis-Antoine, Duke of : Angoulême (himself the son of her other : uncle, the future King Charles X). As both : Louis XVIII and Charles X were widowed, and : Louis XVIII was childless, the Duchess of : Angoulême acted 'de facto' as France's First : Lady under the 'Restoration' (the : monarchical regime of France between 1814 : and 1830) and was allowed to use the Crown : jewels. : : The ruby parure was the first parure made : for the Duchess after the change of regime : in 1814-1815. It was slightly altered in : 1825, and was worn by the Duchess for : Charles X's coronation in Reims that year. : It then remained unchanged, and was known to : be a favourite of Empress Eugénie, who wore : the parure frequently (she wore it for the : first time for the official dinner at the : Tuileries Palace, on the evening of her : wedding day).Here is the full parure, : photographed in the 1880s: : : http://diamantsdelacouronne.free.fr/Diamants%20de%20la%20Couronne/Parure%20de%20rubis/slides/Parure%20de%20rubis.html : : Most of the elements of the parure still : exist, with the exception of the belt, which : was dismantled. The largest necklace of the : parure still exists (it appeared several : times at auctions in the last decades). The : pair of bracelets is in the Louvre Museum. : : The tiara was bought at the 1887 auction by : a certain Mr Haas, but was soon acquired by : the American millionnaire Bradley Martin. It : was given to Martin's daughter, Cornelia, : Countess of Craven. The tiara was sold at : auction in 1961, after the Countess of : Craven's death. It is rumoured to be now in : the possession of the Niarchos family, but : so far we have no conclusive element to : proove this assertion. : : Here are two more pictures, the first one : during the sale of the Countess of Craven's : estate in 1961, and the second one during : the exhibition "Ten centuries of French : jewellery" at the Louvre Museum in May : 1962 (these two pictures were not published : in Connaissance des Arts , but I think you : will not mind about that... ): : : : : : : - the edition of Connaissance des Arts of : April 1962 also published this interesting : picture of a ruby and diamond floral spray : brooch, said to have belonged to Empress : Eugénie and to be, at the time of the : publication, in a private collection. : : I have no other information about this : brooch, and I do not even know if the : attribution to Empress Eugénie is reliable. : The only sure fact is that it was not part : of the Crown Jewels. So, if it was a jewel : of Empress Eugénie, it was part of her : private collection. None of the jewels of : the exiled Empress auctioned off in 1872 in : London matches with this jewel, but of : course the Empress could have kept it : longer, possibly until her death. : Anyway, it is beautiful. I would be happy to : see this brooch again. : : : : : We can also notice that Empress Eugénie had : other ruby and diamond jewels in her private : collection: : : - there is this ruby, pearl and diamond : necklace recently seen at the Biennale des : Antiquaires in Paris (possibly a wedding : gift): : : http://members2.boardhost.com/royal-jewels/msg/1411117531.html : : - Bernard Morel publishes also this picture : of a ruby and diamond laurel tiara, made by : Bapst for Empress Eugénie: : : : : : That's all, folks! :
on October 14, 2014, 11:41 am, in reply to "