Historic and magnificent diamond jewel, Russia, second half of the 18th century and later Sotheby's - Lot 326 estimate $3,041,538-$5,072,668
From Sotheby's "Composed of an articulated band set with slightly graduated cushion-shaped diamonds, within a border of drop-shaped motifs similarly set; and a ribbon bow motif set with cushion-shaped diamonds in an open-work floral and foliate pattern, length approximately 355mm, numbered, band and bow later assembled with the addition of two extra links to the band, fitted case for the band and the bow in their original forms, one small diamond deficient.
Provenance The Imperial Russian Crown Jewels, The Diamond Fund, circa 1760 – 1917 The Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics, 1917 – 1925 Consortium of dealers, 1925 – 1927 Messrs Christie, Manson & Woods, 1927 S.J. Philips, 1927 - 1960s Purchased from S.J Philips during the 1960s Private Collection, 1960s – 2005 Purchased at Sotheby’s Geneva in November 2005 by the present owner
Catalogue Note
Introduction to the Russian Crown Jewels
Russia’s Diamond Treasure is composed of the best portion of the State jewels and Regalia, formerly the property of the Tsars. Founded in 1719 by Peter the Great to distinguish the wealth of the Romanov Dynasty and known as the Diamond Fund, the Romanov Treasures ever since the 18th century, had been stored in the “Diamond Room” in the Palais d’Hiver in St Petersburg. Under the official denomination of “Regalia and Crown Jewels”, the treasure was entrusted to the care of the appointed keeper and not a single article of the Regalia or Crown Jewels was ever allowed to be taken out of the “Diamond Room” without “a written sealed order and only in the presence of a trustee (or trustees) especially appointed by H.I.M.”. Throughout the centuries, the Tsars accumulated a vast quantity of personal jewellery. Although Peter the Great (1672, 1689-1725) practised austerity, he did acquire many jewels for his consort Catherine I and his daughter Elizabeth (probably accounting for 20% of the total). Catherine II the Great (1729, 1762-1796), whose extravagance in dress and luxury reached standards experienced neither before or since, added the largest number of jewels to the Imperial collection (40%). She lived at a time of very high standards of artistic work and she was able to obtain the services of highly skilled jewellers. About 25% were added by Alexander I and Nicholas I. The remaining 15% were added by the later Tsars. At the outbreak of the First World War, a decision was taken to move the treasure to Moscow. Agathon Faberge, the Court Jeweller, was ordered to send the Crown jewels to Moscow under special escort. This was done under the supervision of Mr. Bentichev, Trustee of “H.I.M. Wardrobe Service”. The removal of the strong boxes was carried out in such haste that not even an itemised list of the jewels was prepared on their leaving St Petersburg. In Moscow, the jewels were confiscated and stored in the Kremlin where they remained untouched, sealed in several cases, until after the war. Agathon Faberge was then persuaded to sit on a commission to value the regalia and Crown jewels. The job lasted from autumn 1921 to spring 1923; each item was photographed and the weight of each stone, wherever possible, was recorded. A catalogue was finally published in 1925, under the general supervision of Prof A.E. Fersman, titled Russia’s Treasure of Diamonds and Precious Stones. This work was published in Russian, French, English and German. It seems that it was the intention of the Soviet to sell the collection in order to raise much needed foreign currency to aid the fledging communist regime, but this decision was retracted and after a while the catalogue itself was withdrawn. The treasures of the Tsars were first exhibited to the public in 1925 in Moscow. After the catalogue was compiled, a number of jewels were however sold to a syndicate of British and American buyers whose identity is not known. The jewels were brought to London and most of them were offered at auction at a sale of “The Russian State Jewels” held by Messrs Christie Manson & Wood on 16 March 1927. The collection of Russian jewels sold after the publication of the catalogue to the Anglo-American syndicate included some important ornaments, but the intention of the Russian authorities seems to have been to retain, as part of the national heritage, those ornaments which were of historical importance or artistic merit. Dispersed to a number of buyers, some of these jewels have later resurfaced at public auction, notably:
The Nuptial Crown: sold by Sotheby’s Parke Bernet in New York in 1966, A collection of ten flower ornaments: assembled into a necklace by A La Vieille Russie in New York and sold by Sotheby’s New York in April 1998, A floral brooch: sold by Sotheby’s London in December 2004, A set of two floral brooches mounted as earrings: sold by Sotheby’s London in May 2005, The diamond ornament: sold by Sotheby’s Geneva in November 2005 and reoffered in this auction.
This diamond necklace with bow knot attachment is not only a remarkable jewel in itself, but its Russian royal provenance puts it in a class of its own. It evokes the blinding splendour of Catherine II, Empress of Russia: the magnificence of her court, her parks, her palaces, her art collections, and monuments. The most striking and colourful figure on the stage of European political life, for thirty four years she ruled a mighty empire which stretched from Siberia to Poland and left it stronger, larger and richer than when she came to the throne in 1762. After her death in 1796, her friend the Prince de Ligne, who had named her Catherine the Great, declared that this title - which has never been lost - resumed all her genius, courage, sense of justice, and force of character.
Using her court as a stage, she played the part of an autocratic but enlightened ruler to perfection, imposing in her public appearances, kind and charming in private. The French ambassador, the Comte de Ségur who noticed how “her majestic head and brow, proud look and dignified deportment made her seem taller than she was”, was also impressed by her feminine grace “her aquiline nose, well-shaped mouth, Saxe blue eyes beneath dark lashes, gentle glance and seductive smile”. In spite of her success, she once confided to the Prince de Ligne that she could have served Russia better if she had been born a man. Ever the courtier, he assured her that being a woman was a positive advantage. “Believe me, you are so much more impressive in your beautiful embroidered orange red velvet dolman or tunic than a man decked out in boots and shoulder sash can ever be. In addition the five huge diamonds blazing out from your hair are far more effective than a man’s hat which is either ridiculously small or ridiculously big”. He was right. Her diamond jewellery proclaimed her power and her rank as Empress and appealed to the Russian taste for sumptuous goods. It impressed the Rev. William Coxe, visiting St Petersburg in 1778: “the glory and the splendour of the clothing of the court and abundance of precious stones leave the opulence of other European courts far behind” and his opinion was shared by the acute Madame de Stael who observed: “this people prefers magnificence to domestic tranquillity”.
In 1764, recognising that grand jewellery was an integral part of the Russian court tradition she transformed the Imperial Bedchamber in the south east corner of the Winter Palace into the Brilliant Room described by the German visitor Johann Georgi: “Her room is like a priceless jewel case. The regalia is laid out on a table under a great crystal globe through which everything can be examined in detail… The walls of the room are lined with glass cabinets containing numerous pieces of jewellery set with diamonds and other precious stones as well as insignia and portraits of Her Imperial Majesty, snuff boxes, watches and chains drawing instruments, signet rings, bracelets, sword belts and other priceless treasures among which the Empress chooses presents for giving away”.
Throughout her long reign the collection was continually increasing by purchase and by gifts, including diamonds, coloured stones, pearls, Chinese filigree and Indian Mughal ornaments. All new acquisitions, which were supervised by two men, Glazumov and Aduarov, were either brought in from abroad, or ordered from the colony of Russian and foreign jewellers and goldsmiths resident in St Petersburg. The four main suppliers to the Empress were Leopold Pfisterer, engaged by Prince Dimitri Michailovitch Golitsyn, Russian ambassador to Vienna in 1763, who signed a six year contract but remained in St Petersburg for thirty-four more years, Jérémie Pauzié of Geneva and his compatriot Louis David Duval who, in 1789 with Jacob David Duval founded the firm Louis David Duval and Son.
Those jewels, such as this ornament which have survived from this display, demonstrate that during the second half of the eighteenth century the art of jewellery in Europe reached a summit of elegant design and execution never equalled since. Although those made in St Petersburg for a Russian clientèle are that much grander, with bigger stones and ordered in larger quantities than elsewhere, yet the standard of refinement was high enough to satisfy the most fashionable and exacting European taste. Commanding huge revenues and the mineral wealth of the Urals there was no limit to what Catherine II could afford, and in 1792 she decided to transfer her jewels for display in a new, more spacious Brilliant Room decorated in classical Russian style, hung with paintings by Antony van Dyck and with the celebrated Peacock clock of James Cox in the centre. But Catherine II did not concentrate all her interest in brilliant gem set jewellery to the exclusion of other types of craftsmanship. As she adored tobacco, under her patronage the goldsmiths of St Petersburg, Paris and Berlin perfected their skills of enamelling and chasing while producing innumerable exquisite snuff boxes for her pleasure. An inventory of 1789 lists the various items which add up to a collection of some of the most exquisite jewels and objets de vertu created during the eighteenth century.
This jewel conjures up a picture of the Empress, escorted by six pet greyhounds choosing jewels for a state occasion in the Brilliant Room, then moving next door to her chambre de toilette. There a hairdresser might crown her piled up hair with a Russian style kokochnik tiara, aigrette, or jewelled pins, perhaps those designed as bow knots similar to that attached to this ornament, which are still in the Kremlin. Afterwards, dressed in her picturesque loose sleeved Muscovite style gown she would proceed to a reception, a gala dinner or court ball. Even in her final years, her stately appearance continued to fascinate, as the artist Elizabeth Vigée Lebrun describes “although not tall, with her erect head, eagle eye and countenance so used to command, all was so symbolic of majesty that she looked as if she were Queen of the World. She wore the ribbons of the three Orders over a dress of noble simplicity. It consisted of a red velvet dolman over a gold embroidered white muslin tunic with wide pleated sleeves, turned back in oriental fashion. Instead of ribbons, the most beautiful diamonds were scattered over the cap covering her white hair”. Similarly a diamond ornament such as this, worn as part of a parure drawing all eyes towards her, would also have enhanced that incomparable aura which set the Empress Catherine apart from her subjects. With such a history the possession of a jewel of this quality and rarity would surely be the glory of any modern collection.
History of the Jewel
The diamond band and the bow offered here are described as a “necklace” and a “brooch” and reproduced in Fersman’s Russia’s Treasure of Diamonds and Precious Stones, respectively as numbers 195 on plate XCV and number 128 on plate LXVI. This confirms that at the time of the 1922 inventory the diamond band and the bow were not joined together to form a necklace but were considered as two separate ornaments. The differences in manufacture techniques confirm this. Fersman dates the bow to the second half of the 18th century but does not suggest a date for the necklace. In the picture published in the book, the necklace is shown as a band of twenty-five cushion-shaped diamonds, without the added diamond links at the end with which it is now offered. Stylistically the bow for its design and close setting in silver is consistent with jewellery production of the 1760s, while the band, both in design and manufacture, suggests a very slightly later date, possibly around 1780. It is more likely that the band, in its original form, did not have the scroll terminals which appear in both Fersman and Messrs Christie, Manson and Wood catalogues, but simply consisted of a line of twenty-five diamonds terminating at each end with a silver loop. This would have been consistent with traditional design of 18th century necklaces which were fastened by means of a fabric ribbon threated through the loop ends. However, the Roman numerals inscribed on the side of the links seem to indicate that the present band is now shorter than it may have originally been in the 18th century. The band presents close similarities with details of a set of diamond dress ornaments kept in the Kremlin (Cf.: Olga Gorewa, Joyaux du Trésor de Russie, Paris, 1990, pg. 55). It is indeed possible that the jewel was also used in the 18th century as a dress ornament, a simple ribbon of diamonds directly stitched to the fabric material of a court dress as it was customary at the time. The design of the diamond bow is very similar to that of a pair of ruby, spinel and diamond bows dated 1760s and attributed to Jérémie Pauzié, kept in the Kremlin (Cf.: Olga Gorewa, Joyaux du Trésor de Russie, Paris, 1990, pgs. 43 and 51; illustrated on the next page). Although one must consider the possibility that the bow brooch might have been commissioned under the reign of Elisabeth Petrovna (1742-1761), whose court was the most brilliant of the time and surpassed in the display of wealth and luxury the court of Versailles, it is more likely that both jewels were commissioned by Catherine the Great whose extravagance in dress, jewels and luxury reached standards never reached before or after in Russia. During her reign (1762-1796), Catherine the Great is known for having added the largest number of jewels to the Imperial Collection (approximately 40%). She lived at a time of very high standards of artistic work and she was able to obtain services of highly skilled French and Swiss jewellers such as Pauzié and Duval. The diamond band is described and illustrated as lot 71 in Messrs Christie, Manson & Woods 1927 catalogue of “The Russian State Jewels”. Lord Twinnings, in A History of the Crown Jewels of Europe (London, 1960), provides a “Summary of the Russian State Jewels” sold at auction in 1927. He states the band was purchased by the London jewellers S.J. Philips for £2,700. The bow is not illustrated in the 1927 catalogue but the description of lot 59 fits the jewel: “a diamond knot-of-riband brooch, with cluster centre”. This lot was bought also by S.J. Philips for £300. The two jewels were probably sold together to a client in the 1960s; they remained then in the same family until 2005 when they were offered at auction at Sotheby’s Geneva. We are thrilled to be able to reoffer these extraordinary pieces eleven years on.
18th Century Fashion and dress
18th century ladies’ fashion was enlivened by extreme and varied eccentricities: skirts expanded side ways to impossible widths and towering hairstyles grew to preposterous heights. There was, however, one constant feature: the deep décolleté common to both formal and informal garments, making the necklace one of the most important forms of jewelled adornment. Contemporary portraiture shows them consistently worn in a high position to emphasise the length and elegance of the wearer’s neck. The first distinct type of eighteen century necklace consisted of an openwork band of varying width set with a variety of gemstones. This basic form could be enhanced by the addition of a central decorative motif in the shape of a ribbon bow or an elaborate combination of a ribbon bow together with tassels, a pear-shaped drop or an elaborate girandole pendant. These necklaces were worn either directly on the skin or applied on velvet ribbons or other fabric to match the dress of the wearer. In most cases, these necklaces were fastened at the back by ribbons. The diamond band and the ribbon bow offered in this catalogue were probably combined to form a necklace towards the closing years of the 18th century when box-like clasps became fashionable. It was probably around this time that they became associated with the accompanying shagreen crimson velvet lined case. The vogue of wearing necklaces decorated with prominent ribbon bow motifs at the centre had been popular throughout Europe and indeed in Russia since the 1760s, as shown in numerous contemporary portraits. The diamond band consists of a line of twenty-five silver links, each set with a cushion-shaped diamond between courses of smaller stones. The links are not joined by connecting metal links but are threaded on silk. This practice, not uncommon for assembling jewelled necklace links of early date, is clearly detailed in several engravings published in 1663 by the French jeweller Gilles Legaré and remained fashionable until the end of the 18th century. It is also highly probable that the necklace was originally intended to be worn attached directly on to the garment or dress as was the custom during the 18th century, possibly suspending a series of garlands which may explain the purpose of the silver loops to the side of four links; the necklace may have been worn en esclavage."
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