An imperial jewel... and a small mystery - ruby, diamond, and pearl brooch, circa 1850s

 

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.

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?

Sur la poitrine de l'Impératrice - the Grand noeud de corsage of the Empress Eugénie

 

Bow-knot corsage brooch / Grand noeud de corsage, with two tassels of unequal length and five "fringes", bezel-set and en pampille, composed of some 2634 diamonds - old mine-cut, old European-cut, rose-cut - mounted in silver-topped gold, the work of François Kramer, circa 1855. The extremely virtuosic setting gives the jewel great flexibility and movement, causing the stones to throw off light with the slightest motion.

Originally, the bow-knot, apparently unaugmented, figured as the center of a belt composed of more than 4,000 stones belonging to the diamants de la couronne. Exhibited, among other haute joaillerie, most destined for the imperial court, at the Universal Exhibition of 1855, it was then worn by the Empress Eugénie. While no design or other visual documentation of this lavish and imposing belt has been found, records attest that the empress wore it at least twice: for the reception organized at the château de Versailles for the visit of Queen Victoria, on 25 August 1855, and then during the reception given at the Hôtel de Ville for the baptism of the Prince Imperial, on 14 June 1856. But by 1864, she had decided to retain only the bow-knot as a corsage ornament; the rest of the belt was, presumably, dismantled. It was at that point, it seems likely, that the tassels and "fringe" were added. 

in 1887, the French government, still somewhat insecure about its republican status, sold off most of its crown jewels, this piece among those dispersed. This rash decision cost the French eleven million dollars when, in 2008, the jewel - after spending more than a century in the collection of the Astor family - was bought back and along with other treasures - those retained and those reclaimed - is now to be seen in the Galerie d'Apollon of the Musée du Louvre. (I wrote about the sale and later repurchasings in a 2013 post, Les Diamants de la couronne de France.)

On display in preparation for their sale, the "The Diamonds of the Crown"; the bow brooch is at center right.

A page from the sale catalogue.

Imperial splendour... in miniature - two portraits by Jean-Baptiste Fortuné de Fournier, after Winterhalter, 1857

 

The Empress Eugénie and Emperor Napoléon III. Miniatures on ivory: 22 x 15cm / 8.66 x 5.90 inches. The emperor's portrait is signed and dated. The condition of the pair is regrettable, especially as they are remarkably accurate copies of Winterhalter's portraits of the imperial couple. The original paintings, official state portraits of which dozens of copies were made, were believed lost in the burning of the Tuileries Palace in 1871.

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A view, also by Fortuné de Fournier, showing the actual portrait of the empress in situ in the Tuileries. (while I don't know this for certain, it seems likely that its pendant was hanging opposite, out of view in the watercolor.) On the wall to the right of the empress' portrait are Gérard's portraits of the emperor's parents, Louis Bonaparte and Hortense de Beauharnais, the latter shown with the couple's firstborn son, Napoléon Louis Charles Bonaparte, who died at the age of only four. Through the doorway can be caught a glimpse of the 1812 David portrait of Napoléon I in his study at the Tuileries. A bust of the latter is just visible at left, while one of his nephew can be seen on the console beneath the Winterhalter portrait of his wife.

A beautiful image of the empress, very true to the original portrait, and astonishing in its subtlety, considering that the entire miniature is less than six inches across.

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Jean-Baptiste Fortuné de Fournier (16 May 1797, Nice - 17 February 1864, Paris), French painter. A watercolorist and miniaturist, he is mainly remembered for his portrayals of the interiors of French imperial residences, particularly Saint-Cloud, Fontainebleau, and the Tuileries. His works are valuable documents for the study of decorative arts under the Second Empire, as they depict the contemporary décor of buildings which, for the most part, have now disappeared.

Hello, goodbye - early photography turning its back on us

 

Photograph by vicomte Onésipe Aguado de las Marismas.

The comtesse de Castiglione by Pierre-Louis Pierson.

The Empress Eugénie by comte Olympe Aguado de las Marismas.

Princess Pauline Metternich by André-Adolphe-Eugène Disdéri.

The comtesse de Castiglione by Pierre-Louis Pierson.

The courtesan Catherine Walters aka "Skittles."