Re: Queen Alexandra's 2 Cartier colliers resille Archived Message
Posted by Helen on November 5, 2015, 10:01 am, in reply to "Re: Queen Alexandra's 2 Cartier colliers resille"
Yes I have the Hans Nadelhoffer book about Cartier. It was published in 1984 & it states that he was the jewellery expert for Christies in Geneva & that Cartier gave him access to their archives, previously unpublished photographs & working designs. "It is the full, authenticated story of Cartier as it has never been told before" I am including these quotes as this book came before both Suzy Menkes & Leslie Field - so they would have accepted his work as the reference standard regarding British Royal Cartier jewels. There is a page (page 60) with photographs showing the 2 resilles that Nellie has posted above. Below those images is the text exactly as Nellie has quoted. There is also a paragraph on the next page which says: "The most magnificent of resilles, however, was the one ordered by Buckingham Palace from Pierre Cartier in 1904 - an ethereal web of superimposed diamond drops and bow-knots, it adorns Queen Alexandra in the portrait of her by the French painter Francois Flameng." I have just had a good look at the Flameng portrait, on as large a magnification as the Royal Collection website allows, & I think that in this 1908 portrait she is wearing the collier with the bow-knots & that large single diamond in the very centre at the top - such a distinctive single diamond is not in the smaller collier later worn by Queen Mary. This seems to be the only time it is seen on the Queen as in 1905 at the Connaught/Swedish wedding she is wearing rows of collet diamond necklaces or pearls around her neck like a dog collar & then her wedding necklace with other pieces attached -as she did for the 1902 coronation. The other dated photograph I have of Q Alexandra is her final time at the State opening of parliament in Feb 1910 when she wore the 2 large Cullinan diamonds as brooches as well as the 2nd more delicate collier resille. She was finally photographed as a widow in 1913 with her new regal coronet (that went to Norway) as well as Queen Victoria's little crown inside it - as shown in Beth's original message. My personal conclusion is that the garland design resille made in 1904 was too uncomfortable to wear - hence only worn to sit for a portrait - so a second more flexible one was made in 1909 perhaps using the small diamonds from the first -leaving Q Alexandra with some large stones to put in her coronet between 1910 & 1913! Also note that she did not leave a will so that her jewels were split up by King George V between his wife & his 3 sisters after November 1925. Queen Mary was photographed pretty quickly afterwards wearing the second resille in 1926 - see Beth's photo above
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