GENEVA.- A unique brooch featuring old mine-cut diamonds once owned by Napoleon Bonaparte and seized by the Prussian army as the defeated French Emperor fled the battle of Waterloo, is being offered for the first time at auction (estimate 120,000 – 200,000 CHF / $150,000 – 250,000). The brooch will star in Sotheby’s annual signature Royal & Noble Sale, the most authoritative and anticipated of its kind on the global auction calendar, which will take place at the Mandarin Oriental in Geneva on 12 November.
This historical and highly important diamond jewel was part of other personal belongings the Emperor had taken with him to Waterloo, including medals, weapons, silverware, a hat and a jewellery box containing dozens of loose diamonds as well as jewellery. In his haste to flee Waterloo, where his armies had been overwhelmed by the combined forces of the British and Prussian armies, Napoleon had to abandon some of his carriages when they got stuck in a muddy road a few miles away from the battlefield – including the carriage containing those precious belongings.
The circular diamond brooch, approximately 45mm in diameter, has at its centre a large oval diamond weighing 13.04 carats in weight and is surrounded by nearly one hundred old mine-cut diamonds of varying shapes and sizes arranged in two rows concentrically. The unique piece was created for Napoleon around 1810, most likely to adorn his bicorne on special occasions. The brooch, or hat ornament, was fitted with suspension hook for wear as a pendant, most likely after Napoleon’s ownership, when it became part of the Prussian crown jewels.
The brooch – along with a few items such as a hat and a sword looted from the carriages Napoleon left behind – was offered to the Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm III as battle trophies on 21 June 1815, only three days after the battle of Waterloo. The diamond brooch has remained within the House of Hohenzollern for centuries, passed down from King Friedrich Wilhelm III to the Emperors of Germany. It has been part of a different private collection for the last few years.
The jewel’s change of ownership from a terminally defeated Emperor Napoleon I to a victorious King Friedrich Wilhelm III is more than symbolic. It epitomises a dramatic reversal of fortune for Prussia whose army had been virtually wiped out in the early years of the Napoleonic Wars, with Prussian territories and their inhabitants subjugated to the Napoleonic rule as a client state for over six years. It signals Prussia’s ascent as one of Europe’s leading powers, on a par with Great Britain, Russia and the Austrian Empire, to the Germany we know today. There is no doubting the weight of history accrued within this exceptional diamond jewel which takes on an almost talismanic property having survived over two hundred years virtually pristine, despite bearing witness to some of the most gruelling events shaping and reshaping Europe.
Beyond Napoleon’s brooch-pendant, this year’s Sotheby’s Royal and Noble Sale presents an exquisitely curated collection of spectacular jewels of illustrious provenance including the following two lots.
A Rare and Historically Important Natural Pearl and Diamond Hair Ornament and a Brooch – Property of the European Noble Family, estimate 340,000 – 500,000 CHF.
This exceptionally rare and dazzling hair ornament of museum quality and its accompanying brooch are extraordinary examples of jewellery as supreme historical showcases. They are the sources of a captivating story of magnificent natural pearls of great provenance; they reveal a specific yet fleeting ornamental style moment in history; and they bring to life the superlative craftsmanship of bygone era jewellers. Because of their shared history, both pieces are purposefully presented as one historical ensemble, the way they have been preserved together for almost two centuries.
Their shared history is that of an important collection of magnificent natural pearls that were initially the property of Prince Franz Xaver of Saxony and Poland (1730 – 1806) who had a son and five daughters including Cunegonde of Saxony, Marchesa di Montoro (1774 – 1828). Cunegonde was the cousin by blood of the King of Spain, the King of Naples and the ill-fated French king Louis XVI, Marie-Antoinette’s husband. The pearls were first mounted as a tiara designed for Cunegonde’s wedding in 1796 then, as is tradition for jewellery and pearls, after Cunegonde’s death, the tiara was passed down, in this case, to the last of her three sons.
Around 1840, Kunegunde’s tiara was dismantled and the pearls remounted as hair ornament. Its distinctive style speaks to a very brief fashion, at the height of the romantic movement, for Sévigné: typically a hair ornament designed to frame the face with long garlands of precious stones worn on the top of the head from one ear to the other. This Sévigné, most likely designed by French jeweller Fossin (now known as Chaumet), is perhaps the last surviving example of such design. Its survival, virtually intact, is extraordinary and may be thanks to the piece’s extreme versatility. Once the Sévigné was no longer in fashion, the piece was cleverly altered, whilst preserving its integrity, to allow its use as a necklace, a devant-de-corsage, and a set of fabulous hair pins.
The accompanying brooch was made later, incorporating pearls of the same provenance, though its ribbon design is more reminiscent of the styles of the 1860s that took inspiration from 18th century examples. The brooch stands out in particular for the quality of its central button-shaped pearl.
A Magnificent and Historical Light Pink Diamond and Diamond Ring – Formerly in the Collection of Princess Neslishah Sultan (1921-2012), estimate 240,000 - 400,000 CHF
Offered for the first time at auction, this historically important ring set with an old mine brilliant-cut light pink diamond weighing just over thirteen carats, is part of a collection of twenty jewels which belonged to one of the last Ottoman Princesses, Neslishah Sultan (1921 – 2012). Princess Neslishah Sultan was the last to have her birth entry written in the palace register of Ottoman dynasty members before the fall of the once-mighty Ottoman Empire, making her the last person to be officially bestowed with the title of ‘Sultan’ or Princess of Imperial Blood.
The Princess embodied the end of an era, both in her native Turkey and in Egypt where she married Muhammad Abdel Moneim (1899 – 1979), the heir apparent of the Mohammed Ali dynasty whose Khedives ruled Egypt until 1914, governing as viceroys of the sultan of Turkey. In the late 1930’s the Egyptian court was the most dazzling in the world, and the predilection for glamour and the wear of bold, beautiful jewellery continued through to the 1950s, notwithstanding Egypt’s gradual descent into political turmoil and uprising.
One week before her wedding in 1940, Neslishah was presented by the groom’s aunt, Princess Khadija Hanim with this light pink diamond ring, which Empress Catherine I, widow of Tsar Peter the Great, had gifted to the Ottoman Sultan Ahmed III during negotiations for the Treaty of the Pruth in 1711. These diamonds remained in the Ottoman treasury for generations until Sultan Abdul Hamid II (1842-1918) gifted them to his cousin Princess Emina Ilhamy (1858-1931), the mother of Khedive Abbas Hilmi II, the father of the groom. The ring stayed with her until her death in 2012 in Turkey where she was allowed to return with her husband after living through great turmoil including exile, house arrests, false accusations and the many upheavals in Egypt’s and Turkey’s post war history. Beyond the illustrious origins of the diamond at its heart, this historically important ring is a symbol of a life lived with grace, dignity and resilience in the face of adversity.
“It is a huge privilege to be able bring to auction such wonderous pieces of jewellery boasting prestigious provenance year after year in Geneva. Our Royal and Noble sale continues to be unparalleled in the auction world and continues to set the standard. The presentation, in the same sale, of items of jewellery previously owned by Emperor Napoleon I and Empress Catherine I via one of the greatest Ottoman Princesses, to name only two stunning examples, demonstrates our on-going quest to offer discerning collectors the absolute best.”-- Andres White Correal, Chairman Jewellery Europe and Middle East, Head of Noble Jewels
