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Sparkling Royal Jewels From Around the World

On the Block: The Valida Pasha Demi-Parure

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The necklace from the suite of jewels (Photo: DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS/AFP/Getty Images)

We’ve already covered two of the most spectacular jewels that will be sold at Sotheby’s in Geneva this month: Catherine the Great’s Bow Necklace and the Sky Blue Diamond Ring. Today, we’re looking at a third lot from the sale, an unusual, impressive suite of jewels with roots in the Ottoman Empire.

Image: Sotheby’s

Here’s how the auction house’s lot notes describe the pieces being sold: “a necklace composed of a series of graduated clusters set with cushion-shaped diamonds of various tints, within frames of similarly shaped and rose near-colourless stones, alternating with foliate motifs, the front decorated with two pear-shaped diamonds of yellow tint within a surround of cushion-shaped stones, and a detachable line of cushion-shaped diamonds and foliate motifs, the central fancy brown-yellow diamond supporting a pendant set with a modified heart brilliant-cut fancy grey diamond, further accented with cushion-shaped and rose diamonds, length approximately 270mm, central cluster and clasp detachable, one small diamond deficient; a pair of earrings, later post fittings; and a brooch.”

Photo: Ben A. Pruchnie/Getty Images for Sotheby’s

The pieces are not only unusual for their varied colored diamonds; they also have royal provenance. They were made in the 1870s for Emine Hanim, the wife of Khedive Teufik of Egypt. The pieces were a gift to the Khediva in honor of the birth of her son, Abbas II. (He later succeeded his father as khedive — and famously gave a very familiar tiara to a royal princess.) The man who gave the pieces to the Khediva was one of the most powerful men in that part of the world: Abdul Hamid II, ruler of the Ottoman Empire. The Khediva ended up exercising some power of her own: after her son’s accession in 1892, she was given the title of Valida Pasha and became one of her son’s most important political advisors.

Photo: DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS/AFP/Getty Images

But the diamonds set in these pieces may have an even longer history. According to tradition, they were given by Empress Catherine I to Sultan Ahmed III during the negotiations to end an eighteenth-century war between the Ottoman Empire and Russia.

Photo: Ben A. Pruchnie/Getty Images for Sotheby’s

The Valida Pasha died in 1931, and her son was deposed in 1944, but the family managed to hang on to this unusual suite of jewels until 1963. That year, they were sold at Christie’s, with the Russian provenance related clearly in the sale catalogue. They have remained in a private collection in Europe since then, but on November 16, they will be sold again at Sotheby’s. This time around, the auction estimate for the suite has been set at approximately $3-5 million.

Catherine the Great’s Bow Necklace to Be Sold Again

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Catherine the Great’s Bow Necklace previewed at Sotheby’s (Photo: Ben A. Pruchnie/Getty Images for Sotheby’s)

For the second time in eleven years, an important diamond bow necklace from the Russian imperial collection will be sold at Sotheby’s. The necklace is thought to have been worn by one of the most important figures in Russian history: Catherine the Great. Sotheby’s previewed the piece in London on Tuesday, giving us a close-up glimpse of the dazzling necklace.

Photo: Ben A. Pruchnie/Getty Images for Sotheby’s

The necklace, which dates to the second half of the eighteenth century, will be sold at Sotheby’s Magnificent Jewels auction in Geneva on November 16. It was previously sold at the same location almost exactly eleven years ago, on November 17, 2005. The lot notes for that auction described the piece as a “necklace consisting of an articulated band mounted in silver with a row of twenty-seven graduated cushion-shaped diamonds in open settings within a border of stylised foliate motifs close set with smaller similarly cut stones, embellished with a ribbon bow clasp close set in silver with cushion-shaped diamonds in an open-work floral and foliate pattern.”

Photo: Ben A. Pruchnie/Getty Images for Sotheby’s

Diana Scarisbrick produced an extensive catalogue note for the piece on its last auction appearance. She explains that “this diamond necklace with bowknot clasp 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.” It’s believed that the necklace was made specifically for Catherine, but the provenance is only firmly linked to the Russian imperial collection of the time. It resided in the Diamond Fund until the 1917 revolution.

Photo: Ben A. Pruchnie/Getty Images for Sotheby’s

The necklace sold in 2005 for $1.5 million, just under the high end of the auction estimate. At the time, Sotheby’s executive director told the Associated Press that it was the “most important historical necklace” sold at Sotheby’s in three decades. The necklace is a rare relic of its era; we know how many pieces from the 1700s were broken up or reworked to suit later fashions. Sotheby’s noted in 2005 that the survival of an eighteenth-century jewel “is almost unheard of outside royal or museum collections.”

Photo: Ben A. Pruchnie/Getty Images for Sotheby’s

This time around, the auction house is anticipating an even bigger result from the necklace’s sale. Detailed lot notes have not yet been released, but the auction estimate appears to have been set at between $3 and $5 million.