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PROPERTY OF various owners THE EMPRESS JOSEPH

Currency:USD Category:Everything Else / Other Start Price:NA Estimated At:200,000.00 - 300,000.00 USD
PROPERTY OF various owners THE EMPRESS JOSEPH
PROPERTY OF various owners THE EMPRESS JOSEPHINE PEARL NECKLACE, ca. 1809 Composed of two rows of 47 and 58 pearls measuring approximately from 8.4 mm to 6.2 mm, suspending 7 graduated pearl drops with rose-cut diamond set caps, the clasp set with a cushion-shaped diamond weighing approximately 9.45 carats, mounted in silver and gold, 18th century, with original fitted leather case, length approximately 15 inches With GIA report no. 11896505 dated 20 february 2002 stating that the pearls are natural ESTIMATE: $200,000-300,000 PROVENANCE Josephina, the Queen of Norway and Sweden from 1844 to 1859, owned this double-row pearl necklace which was exhibited in Precious Gems: Jewellery from Eight Centuries at the Nationalmuseum of Stockholm in 2000. Josephina Maximilienne Eugénie Napoléone (1807-1876) inherited the necklace from her mother, Princess Augusta Amalia of Bavaria (1788-1856), wife of the Duke of Leuchtenberg, Eugéne de Beauharnais, who was the son of Empress Josephine by her first marriage and adopted by Emperor Napoléon in 1806. According to Diane Scarisbrick in her book, Chaumet: Master Jewellers since 1780, this necklace is one of numerous pearl jewels supplied to Empress Josephine around 1809 by Nitot, the French Crown Jeweler. The Empress then bequeathed the necklace to her son's wife Amalia, who, in turn, passed it on to her daughter Josephina, the Empress's granddaughter and namesake. Several nineteenth-century portraits show both Princess Amalia and Queen Josephina donning the necklace (Munn p. 35, Nationalmuseum pp. 94-95, Scarisbrick p. 25). One such portrait of Queen Josephina will accompany the necklace in the sale. Literature Geoffrey C. Munn, Tiaras: A History of Splendour, Suffolk, England, Antique Collectors' Club Ltd., 2001, p. 35. The National museum of Stockholm, Precious Gems: Jewellery from Eight Centuries, Stockholm, The National museum, 2000, pp. 94-95. Diane Scarisbrick, Chaumet: Master Jewellers since 1780, Paris: Alain de Gourcuff Editeur, 1995, pp. 22-26.