As to the referred portrait of Queen Emma, if there were cameos in the collection any idea on how could they have been reseted? Surely the diamonds, and possibly small pearls could be removed, but I cant remember any cameo like jewels in the dutch collection... perhaps because they have long been out of fashion. Pity. They could have been turned into fine brooches, earrings, head ornaments ...
Old frames would need new stones. Or re-set existing stones in old frames? Dismantle current tiaras? It's a balancing act.
Future Queen Amália seems to be a tiara lover, so I am hoping that someday she decides to take a peak at all those lost frames and have them restored to their old glory.
René Brus once told me that he encountered many empty frames in the vault at Noordeinde, being discarded - for the time being? - for not be in fashion anymore.
I stumbled upon this interesting portrait of Queen Emma by Hendrik Alexander Sangster in the collection of the RKD. It was inspired by an early engagement photo portrait from 1878. Its an unkown tiara. First thought: artistic freedom by the artist, but why? The portrait he made of King Willem III was very accurate and in general royals were never keen on portraits with imaginary jewels. We do know that both Anna Pavlovna and Sophie owned jewellery with cameos...And we also know they disappeared from most royal collections because they went out of fashion. Sweden is an important exception with the Napoleonic Cameo tiara.
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