According to Brus some of the stones from Sophie were not true rubies but spinels ('rubis balais'). The colour (pinkish) of the Peacock motif jewels is different from the rubies in the Mellerio set ( true pigeon blood red).
The cameo tiara is a mystery to me. The only known version was one owned by Emma's predecessor Sophie of Wurttemberg. Sophie's jewels were inherited by her sons Wiwill and Alexander. Wiwill sold some of them Alexander kept his part and tried to buy back some of the pieces sold by his brother.
Alexander inherited the remaining jewels his brother had. When Alexander died their father Willem III would have been the heir but he declined leaving the inheritance to his daughter Wilhelmina who was 4 years old at the time.
The Peacock parure is set with stones from Sophie's ruby set. The short pearl necklace was another piece of that inheritance.
So how a Cameo set of jewels from Sophie could end up with Emma is unknown.
I do hope however they still have the cameo's because it would be great to see a diamond, pearl and cameo set on the Dutch Royal ladies.
In the last few years i've seen some stories about the top part of the Van Kempen version of the House diamond tiara. I don't think that piece still exists. The four old pearls are most likely part of the antique pearl tiara. The 5 sunbursts could still be in the collection. They would make for a nice tiara. Maybe inspired by the Hesse star tiara worn by Cecile of Greece and Denmark. I think that style might look good on Maxima and her daughters.
A smaller sapphire tiara would be welcome but i'd very much like to see a variation in stones. So a tiara and necklace with turquoise to go with Beatrix' earrings, bracelet and brooches, a set in pink topaz and one in amethysts would all be amazing additions.
I would also love to see Emma's sunburst tiara (Mabel's wedding tiara) get it's own diamonds on top so that tiara and the grand sapphire tiara can be worn at the same time.
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It would be wonderful if such restauration could be made at some point. Probably there are some loose gems in the vaults I would say.
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 ...
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Old frames would need new stones. Or re-set existing stones in old frames? Dismantle current tiaras? It's a balancing act.
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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.
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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.
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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.
on June 18, 2023, 8:25 am