Katharina die Grosse
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The collection of diamond dress ornaments presented here displays the
glorious legacy of Russias imperial court jewels at the height of their
magnificence in the 18th Century.
These prexious jewels would have been made for high-ranking members
of the Imperial Court and for Catherine the Great and worn throughout
the bodice and skirt of a gown, in a pattern, or randomly, like so many
glittering stars, see above the tassels on the corsage.
Such can display seen in a portrait of Empress
Maria Feodorovna also.
Not only do the diamonds in this assemblage of ornaments form a dazzling
display of wealth, but the forms may allude to the rank and privilege
of their original owner.
In addition to the multi-petal flower form resembling daisies, some
of the ornaments are designed as tulips, which at this time were among
the rarest of flowers, their bulbs regarded as precious.
The attention to detail of each flower type indicates the preferenc
for naturalism in jewerly in the second half of the 18th Century.
It is possible that these ornaments may be the work of Louis David Duval,
who was handpicked by Catherine the Great to become the court jeweler
during her reign.
Part of a line of French emigre jewelers imported by Catherine, legendary
for her love of jewels, Duval and his workshop created stunning jewelry
an jeweled objects for the Empress and her court.
As part of the riches of the Imperial court, these ornaments were part
of the Diamond Fund, a stockpile founded in 1719 by Peter the Great
to distinguish the wealth of the Romanov family from that of the nation.
It was as part of this collection of jewels that the ornaments came
to light, from the treasures of the russian imperial court, in 1922
when an inventory of the holdings was conducted as part of a confiscation
and nationalization of all imperial property by the Sowjet government.
Agathon Faberge, an imprisoned member of the illustrious firm of jewelers
and goldsmiths, was released to perform the evaluation of the Russian
Crown Jewels. Faberge escaped from Russia in 1928, two years after the
publication of the inventory, titled Russia`s Treasure of Diamonds
and Precious Stones.
Fortyfive small diamonds trimmings..." (ten of which are mounted
in a necklace)
Although other ornaments which may be linked to to the inventory have
been offered for sale in this century, ( four of the elements are sold
in 1966) the greater part of the inventory was originally liquidated
in a 1927 auction, at which time it was purchased by an American consortium
of buyers. The members of this consortium are not known and the history
of these jewels is tenuous at best.
In 1968 there had been assebled as a necklace and was ...as a timeless
expression of unsurpassed splendor.
source:sothebys/christies; Lord Twining, A History of
the Crown Jewels of Europe; Russia`s Treasure of Diamonds and Precious
Stones
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Die Schmuck-Collection von Xenia Alexandrovna | Romanov Jewelry Imperial Jewels
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