faberge – Page 5

On the Block: Princess Margaretha’s Faberge Brooch

06.06.2017 by The Court Jeweller // Leave a Comment

Bruun Rasmussen

Attention lovers of Fabergé: a unique royal brooch made by the firm is about to be sold at auction in Denmark. Here’s all the details on the piece, which once belonged to Prince Axel and Princess Margaretha of Denmark…

Bruun Rasmussen

The brooch, which features old mine-cut diamonds and cabochon sapphires set in silver and gold, was made by Edward Schramm at Fabergé’s workshop in St. Petersburg ca. 1890s. The jewel is being sold by friends of the late Princess Margaretha of Denmark, wife of Prince Axel. The lot notes from Bruun Rasmussen explain the connection: “Provenance: Member of the Danish Parliament and Chairman of the Handicraft Promotion, Gertie Wandel, née Møller (1894–1988), married to merchant Helge Wandel. In Gentofte, north of Copenhagen, Gertie and Helge Wandel were neighbors to Prince Axel (1888–1964) and Princess Margaretha (1899–1977) of Denmark, and the nearness developed into a close friendship. After the Princess’ death her son, Prince George of Denmark (1920–1986), gave the brooch to Gertie Wandel to recall her and Princess Margaretha as two good friends. Thence Gertie Wandel’s grandson, who by the way was Prince George’s godson, until today.”

Wikimedia Commons/Library of Congress Bain Collection

How would a Danish prince and his wife, who was born a Swedish princess, get a hold of a Russian-made Fabergé brooch? The auction notes posit a few possible avenues: “The brooch may have come to Prince Axel and Princess Margaretha several ways. Prince Axel was son of Prince Valdemar of Denmark, and thus the [nephew] of Tsaritsa Maria Feodorovna and cousin of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia. Princess Margaretha[‘s] mother, Princess Ingeborg of Denmark (1878–1958), wife of Prince Carl of Sweden, was the daughter of Frederik VIII and consequently also the niece of Tsaritsa Maria Feodorovna and cousin of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia.”

Wikipedia/Wartenberg Trust

Princess Margaretha is perhaps the lesser known of a trio of Swedish royal sisters. Her younger sisters were Crown Princess Martha of Norway (mother of the present King of Norway) and Queen Astrid of Belgium (grandmother of the present King of Belgium and the present Grand Duke of Luxembourg). The portrait above was taken during her wedding to Prince Axel in 1919.

Bruun Rasmussen

The brooch will be auctioned on June 9. The estimate for the piece is set at 30,000-50,000 Danish krone, which converts to approximately $4544-7573 USD.

Jewel History: Russian Art Show (1935)

08.15.2016 by The Court Jeweller // Leave a Comment

Two Faberge Easter eggs on display at the 1935 Russian art exhibition in Belgrave Square (Photo: Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)

“Russian Art Show”

(originally appeared in the New Zealand Herald on 3 Aug 1935)

The last pathetic relics of the luxury and splendour with which the pre-war Russian aristocracy loved to surround itself were recently on view at No. 1 Belgrave Square — just two doors away from the residence of the Duke and Duchess of Kent [1], writes a London correspondent. Because of her Tsarist ancestry [2], the Duchess was called upon to perform the opening ceremony and make her first official speech in England since her marriage. This was one of the shortest on record. She simply smiled and said: “I have much pleasure in declaring the Exhibition open.”

The Duke and Duchess of Kent, ca. 1934 (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

The Duchess made the rounds of the spacious rooms, filled with the ikons, the priceless jewels, the bibelots, the pictures and rich embroidered stuffs which White Russians, flying for their lives, managed to smuggle out of the country before the Bolshevist regime took over. She gazed at the magnificent — almost flamboyant — tiara of sapphires and diamonds, now the property of Queen Marie of Romania [3]. The sapphires, as big as pigeons’ eggs, almost dwarfed diamonds of such size and splendour that alone they would have made a rare and wonderful blaze of light.

Queen Marie of Romania wears Grand Duchess Vladimir’s sapphire kokoshnik (Photo: Grand Ladies Site)

This originally belonged to her grandmother, the Grand Duchess Vladimir, whose collection of jewels was famous, even amid the barbaric ostentation of pre-war Russia. So that they might never be shut away from her gaze, this Grand Duchess had glass cases all round her bedroom, in which her jewels were displayed.

Flameng’s 1894 portrait of Princess Zinaida Yusupopva wearing the “La Pelegrina” pearl (Image: Wikimedia Commons)

Among the jewels there are six exhibits worth 100,000. One pear-shaped pearl [4], which tradition declares to be the pair to that dissolved in wine by Cleopatra, is literally priceless. It is regarded as so valuable that no price can be placed upon it. Once owned by Philip II of Spain, and by Louis XVI of France, it came into the possession of Princess Tatiana Yusupova in 1826, and still remains in the Yusupov family. An enormous spray of diamonds and turquoises, representing a loose bunch of cornflowers, drew envious glances from all women present; and so did the necklace of sapphires and diamonds, with a pointed diamond fringe.

Perhaps the most enchanting section of all was that devoted to the work of Faberge, the famous jeweller of French descent who won favour at the court of Tsar Nicholas II, because of his ingenuity in devising the most extravagantly beautiful little toys and bibelots. Many of those which survived the downfall of Russia are now the property of Queen Mary, who delights also in their exquisite workmanship. There was a little crowd of women around the miniature jade piano [5], for instance, with its tiny ivory keys, and lid that opens and shuts perfectly. Then Faberge excelled in the production of Easter eggs; and for each of the great Russian Easter festivals, he used to think of some new idea to please the Tsar.

Agathon Faberge, son of Carl Faberge, sits as he helps to arrange the Belgrave Square exhibition of 1935 alongside H.C. Bainbridge (Photo: Topical Press Agency/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

One was in the form of a bay tree, its leaves of fine jade and spangled with diamond and amethyst. This was placed on a plinth of jade and diamonds, surrounded by posts and chains of the same precious stones. Within, there was a tiny diamond bird which popped out and sang, upon pressing a secret spring. One of the charms of these extravagant toys of Faberge was that they all worked.

The Coronation Egg on display at the Kremlin in Moscow in 2004 (Photo: YURI KADOBNOV/AFP/Getty Images)

Then there was the Easter egg of pink enamel, covered all over with lily-of-the-valley blossoms in pearls and diamonds, which had tiny flaps in its sides, revealing miniatures of the Tsar and the two Grand Duchesses. One of gold and yellow enamel contained a tiny model of the imperial coronation coach in gold, and carried out with a wealth of painstaking detail. An egg of rock crystal held within its transparent depths a graceful golden tree, as well as a mechanical peacock in rich blue and green enamel.

NOTES

1. Prince George, Duke of Kent (1902-1942) and Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent (1906-1968). George was the fourth son of King George V and Queen Mary of the United Kingdom; Marina was the youngest daughter of Prince and Princess Nicholas of Greece and Denmark. George and Marina married in November 1934 and established a home at No. 3, Belgrave Square. Their first two children, Edward and Alexandra, were born at No. 3.

2. Marina’s mother, Princess Nicholas, was born Grand Duchess Elena Vladimirovna of Russia, the only daughter of Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich (a son of Tsar Alexander II) and Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna (better known to history as Grand Duchess Vladimir). Moreover, Marina’s paternal grandmother was Queen Olga of Greece, who was born Grand Duchess Olga Constantinovna of Russia; she was a granddaughter of Tsar Nicholas I.

3. You can read much more about the sapphire kokoshnik made by Cartier for Grand Duchess Vladimir (and later purchased by Queen Marie of Romania) in our post over here!

4. This is the pearl known as “La Pelegrina” (not to be confused with the more famous “La Peregrina”). The Cleopatra story is a bit of fantasy, because La Pelegrina was discovered in Central America in the 16th century. King Philip IV of Spain gave it to his daughter, Princess Maria Theresa, when she married King Louis XIV of France in 1660. By 1826, the pearl was in the collection of Princess Tatiana Yusupova, the wife of a Russian nobleman and a lady-in-waiting to Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna (wife of Tsar Nicholas I). The pearl then passed to Tatiana’s daughter, Princess Zinaida Yusupova, and her grandson, Prince Felix Yusupov (best known as one of the assassins of Rasputin). Felix sold the pearl in the 1950s.

5. Queen Mary purchased the miniature jade piano between 1922 and 1931. You can read more about the piece at the Royal Collection website.

The Leuchtenberg Fabergé Tiara

06.23.2016 by The Court Jeweller // Leave a Comment

The Leuchtenberg Fabergé Tiara (Photo: MEHDI FEDOUACH/AFP/Getty Images)

Earlier this week, I briefly mentioned a rare diamond tiara made by Fabergé, a jewelry house that made relatively few tiaras. Today, let’s delve further into its story. Although the tiara ended up in Italy, it began its story with two imperial powers: Russia and France.

Some of the diamonds in this small but mighty tiara were given by Tsar Alexander I of Russia to Empress Joséphine of France. The Alexander and Joséphine (who had by this time been divorced by Napoléon Bonaparte) were good friends, and he often visited her at her country estate, the Château de Malmaison. When he visited, Alexander brought presents, and these diamonds were among those gifts.

Photo: FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP/Getty Images

The tiara itself was made much later, around 1890. Joséphine’s diamonds had been inherited by her son Eugène, the Duke of Leuchtenberg, and the tiara was made by Fabergé for his descendants. The piece was created by August Holmström, the Finnish-born craftsman who was head jeweler for the firm. (He also made the lovely star sapphire brooch we discussed earlier this week. P.S.: the brooch sold for $75,000. If you bought it: congratulations!)

The Leuchtenbergs must have been thrilled with their new sparkler — there’s a lot of glitter packed into a small, easy-to-wear frame. After World War I, however, the Leuchtenbergs sold the tiara in Switzerland to the Belgian royal family. It was eventually inherited by Prince Charles Théodore, Count of Flanders. When he died unmarried and without children in 1983, he bequeathed the tiara to his sister, Marie José, the former queen of Italy.

Photo: FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP/Getty Images

Marie José died in 2001, and her daughter, Princess Maria Gabriella of Savoy, inherited this tiara and many of her mother’s other jewels. In 2007, Maria Gabriella put a collection of her mother’s jewelry, including the Fabergé tiara, up for auction at Christie’s in London. The auction notes for the piece described it as “designed as a series of graduated old-cut diamond arches with knife edge collet spacers, the central pear-shaped diamond flanked by three briolette and one old-cut diamond, each with diamond collet and leaf surmount to the foliate band, on gold wire frame, mounted in silver and gold, circa 1890, 13.2 cm. wide, with Russian assay marks for gold. Maker’s mark for August Holmström on frame.”

Photo: MIKE CLARKE/AFP/Getty Images

When the hammer fell at the auction in June 2007, the tiara sold for more than two million dollars, nearly double its auction estimate. The sparkler was purchased by Artie and Dorothy McFerrin, a husband-and-wife collecting team from Houston who have acquired an immense private collections of Fabergé items. (Another aside: I wonder if the McFerrins were the purchasers of the star sapphire brooch auctioned this week…)

Luckily for us, the McFerrins have decided to share their bounty with all of us. The Leuchtenberg tiara is on display with much of the rest of their collection at the Houston Museum of Natural Science. The pieces appear in the “Fabergé: From a Snowflake to an Iceberg” exhibition. And this November, the museum will be hosting a special symposium, “The Wonder of Fabergé,” with lectures and presentations focusing on the nearly 600 items in the collection. This tiara, a centerpiece of the museum’s advertising for their Fabergé exhibit, will surely be a major focus.