After France's defeat in the Franco-Prussian War and the fall of the Second Empire in 1871, the Empress Eugénie fled to England, where she subsequently sold many of her jewels. This particular brooch was bought by Harry Emanuel, a London jeweler; his firm provided the purple velvet case in which the piece is still kept. Later, Mrs. Ernest Raphael, née Flora Cecilia Sassoon, acquired the piece and wore it when her portrait was painted by John Singer Sargent in 1905.
Of French make, the brooch is set throughout with round-cut rubies and old mine-cut and pear-shaped diamonds, terminating in three pear-shaped natural pearl drops. The setting is silver and gold.
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| Flora Cecilia Sassoon, the daughter of Kate Ezekiel and Reuben Sassoon; she married Ernest Raphael, a London financier, in May of 1893. |
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| Even as described by Sargent's gloriously impressionistic brushwork, the Empress' brooch is easily identifiable. |
Both the brooch and the painting remained in the Raphael family until 1983, at which point they were offered for sale at Christie's. The brooch was purchased by a private collector in South Carolina; in 2017, the piece was once again sold at auction.
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The "mystery" is this. This ruby, diamond, and pearl brooch. Frequently found in online searches and always identified as the brooch formerly belonging to the Empress, the very same brooch that is featured in this post, but... it is not. It's all very, very similar but, when one observes it closely, it's clear that it isn't the same piece. So what is this, this very close copy? How did it come to be, when and for whom?
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