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| Diamond Bow Brooch: Image courtesy Sotheby's |
Hello again. It has been far too long since my last offering but the business of business has once again gotten in the way. But this post will not disappoint. It seems that Sotheby's has snagged a consignment of jewels from the collection of Metropolitan Museum of Art donor Jayne Wrightsman. Sotheby's was a shoe-in as they have been selling off Jayne's treasures ever since they aided her in dusbursing works from her Palm Beach residence in 1984. The present sale is a single owner catalogue rife with the standard sets of jewels that were requisite for a 5th avenue hostess of the 1950s-1980s. Big, colorful and impressive, but the sale saves one treasure for last....the above royal brooch.
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| Grand Duchess Elena Vladimirovna wearing the brooch: Image via The Royal Forums |
May I present the diamond and gold bow brooch of circa 1850 from the collection of Russian Grand Duchess Elena Vladimirovna. For those not in the know, she was the daughter of Grand Duchess Vladimir whose jewelry collection was one of the only Russian aristocratic collections to escape the revolution intact. As the story goes, the brooch was a wedding present to Grand Duchess Elena either from her mother or from the Czar himself when she married into the Greek line becoming Princess Nicholas of Greece. The brooch later passed to Elena's daughter Princess Marina of Greece. Marina was quite a beauty and made a fortuitous match marrying Prince George of Kent thus becoming a prominent member of the British Royal Family. The brooch was an apparent favorite as she wore it to numerous state events and in formal portraits most notably to the Coronation of George VI in 1937 and Queen Elizabeth in 1953.
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| Princess Marina wearing the brooch with her sisters Elizabeth and Olga: Image via Tumblr |
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| Portrait of Princess Marina by Cecil Beaton: Image via Tumblr |
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| Duke and Duchess of Kent (with brooch) at the coronation of George VI in 1937: Image via Operagloves.com |
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| Duchess of Kent wearing the brooch at the Coronation of Elizabeth II in 1953: Image via Tumblr |
With the present climate for the repatriation of Russian Royal treasures I am confident that the brooch will sail past its estimate of $200,000-300,000 especially given the added layer of British Royal history. The listed provenance stops with Princess Marina (Duchess of Kent) so we don't know exactly how and when Jayne Wrightsman acquired it which is always frustrating, but then again this was the collector who managed to get
Louis XV's desk out of France so I am sure for her anything was possible. Until next time...AR
UPDATE: The sale is over and the brooch achieved a staggering $842,500! Unfortunately the press release provides no clues as to who the buyer may be. We must wait for any further disclosures...
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A very interesting post, and quite a tale. I was not aware of Princess Marina's Russian lineage. Her marriage to the handsome Duke of Kent was one of the more interesting ones, given her husbands tendencies and proclivities, but it is my understanding that it was an affectionate one, for all the challenges it faced on these and other levels. The brooch is quite lovely (and big!), and it is a treat to see it adorning two of its previous owners. Your readers would enjoy seeing a photograph of the consignor wearing it, too, should one be available. Thanks, Reggie
ReplyDeleteI agree the scale is corsage or stomacher size which is odd for a delicate "lovers knot". I am sure it was also strange for Marina to see her grandmother's treasures (Grand Duchess Vladimir) on the on the heads of both queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth having been purchased from Elena of Greece in 1921. But I am sure Marina being the third princess born to a third prince (Prince Nicholas of Greece), considered herself lucky to make a good match into the BRF...despite the reality of the situation.
DeleteI cannot wait to see how much this fetches at the auction. I have loved this piece since I was young and studying the Russian royal family. The family certainly did seem to love it a great deal.
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