I do not know exactly why Ménière was requested to make the parure so hastily. Maybe that court life was beginning to be more active in 1816, after the troubled period of 1813-1816.
Until then, the Duchess of Angoulême "only" had her own personal jewels (not that many, as the Royal Family in exile was not very rich; the Duchess even had to sell a diamond rivière presented to her as a wedding gift by Tsar Alexander I in order to support financially the Royal Family), and a diamond parure made with the Crown Jewels Diamonds (but the parure was not complete, there was no tiara). But it was time for her to have parures with coloured stones.
Of course, it would have been unthinkable for the Bourbons to use the jewels made for the "usurper" Napoleon and his family!
--Previous Message-- : Thank you for sharing your tremendous : knowledge of the ruby jewels. Why was it : that the parure had to be delivered in such : a hurry? : : --Previous Message-- : I do not know the exact part played by the : Duchess of Angoulême in the creation of her : jewels, and how much her personal tastes : were taken into account. I guess that she : probably had her say to "validate" : the designs proposed by the jewellers, but I : am not sure - and I do not know if she : really cared a lot about that. : : The Duchess of Angoulême was a pious, : rigorous and rather austerous woman, who had : endured tremendous tragedies in her life : (her imprisonment with her family while she : was only a teenager, the execution of her : father, her mother and her aunt, the : separation from her young brother, : "raised" [or rather brainwashed] : by republican jailers in the hatred of his : family and of monarchy, the more and more : miserable condition of his brother and : ultimately his death, and finally her exile : from France, her life in an impoverished : exile during 17 years, and a childless : marriage). So the Duchess did not focus very : much on "superficial" things, such : as fashion or jewellery. : : Of course, when the Duchess of Angoulême was : France's "First Lady" from 1814 to : 1830, she was dressed with the best fabrics : and her jewels were the epitome of elegance, : because she was aware that, in her position, : she had to embody the excellence of French : creation. But she did not impulse the : fashion of the time, she merely followed it. : For instance, her jewels are of the highest : quality, but their design is very much in : line with the classical tastes and fashion : of the time (which were not very different : from the Napoleonic era). The Duchess of : Angoulême's younger and lively : sister-in-law, Marie-Caroline, Duchess of : Berry, was much more a "trend : setter" than her. : : Regarding the ruby and diamond parure of the : Crown Jewels' collection, I think that the : Duchess of Angoulême had probably little say : in the design of the parure. The parure was : made in 1816, soon after the King's return : to France after Napoleon's brief comeback in : 1815. It was made by the Crown jewellers : Ménière and Bapst, with stones from the ruby : and diamond parure made in 1810-1811 by : Nitot for Empress Marie-Louise. Ménière was : requested to make and to deliver the parure : very quickly (in only 21 days, according to : the statement made by Ménière when he : delivered the parure), therefore he was : allowed by the Royal Household to recycle : some elements of Marie-Louise's parure : directly into the new parure. We can see, : for instance, that the X-shaped motifs of : the bracelets (between the main rubies) or : the ruby and diamond pendants of the : necklace remained unaltered and were : directly reused in the new parure. The line : of diamond brilliants at the base of the : tiara was also probably unchanged. : : : --Previous Message-- : Thank you for these wonderful photos and the : information, Arthur. I find the Duchess of : Angoulême's tiaras very elegant. Although I : realise that the style is of the era, I : often wonder how much input the Duchess : would have had into the particular details : of her jewels. Her mother had great taste, : and so it is possible that the Duchess had : also, and possibly had substantial input : into the design of her jewellery. : Unfortunately, having almost no facility in : French, I am not in a position to read : archival material which might assist in such : an evaluation. : I would be delighted to know, from those who : can read French and have access to such : archival material, if the Duchess wrote to : her jewellers or others about her jewels. : : --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, 11:44 am, in reply to "