Today marks the 205th Anniversary of the Birth of Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna of Russia, Duchess of Leuchtenberg, who was born on this day in 1819! The Tsar’s daughter who married the grandson of Empress Joséphine, today we are featuring the Leuchtenberg Fabergé Tiara!
The Fabergé Tiara is composed of a series of graduated old-cut diamond arches with knife edge collet spacers, the central pear-shaped diamond is flanked by three briolette and one old-cut diamond, each with diamond collet and leaf surmount to the foliate band, on gold wire frame, mounted in silver and gold, circa 1890, with maker’s mark for August Holmström.
After Emperor Napoleon was exiled to Elba in 1814, Tsar Alexander I of Russia paid a visit to Empress Joséphine at the Chateau of Malmaison, where he presented her with these striking briolette-cut diamonds, shortly before she suddenly passed away.
The Diamonds presented by the Tsar were inherited by Empress Joséphine’s son, the 1st Duke of Leuchtenberg, in the midst of a large collection which included the Leuchtenberg Sapphire Parure, a Diamond Tiara, a Emerald Parure and a Cameo Parure. While the other jewels were inherited by his sisters, Queen Josefina of Sweden and Empress Amelie of Brazil, the Diamonds came into the possession of the second son, Prince Maximilian, who became the 3rd Duke of Leuchtenberg following the death of his brother, the Prince Consort of Portugal.
When the 3rd Duke of Leuchtenberg married Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna of Russia, the daughter of Tsar Nicholas I and niece of Tsar Alexander I, the briolette Diamonds returned to Russia, where they remained in the possession of subsequent Dukes of Leuchtenberg, who had settled in Russia.
In the 1880s, the Diamonds seem to have been worn by Zinaida, the Duchess of Leuchtenberg, wife of the 5th Duke of Leuchtenberg for a Costume Ball alongside Grand Duchess Vladimir, who wore the Vladimir Tiara.
Around 1890, the briolette Diamonds of Empress Joséphine were set into this striking Diamond Tiara made by August Holmström for Fabergé.
While the Dukes of Leuchtenberg had been selling their Jewels ahead of the Russian Revolution, it became necessary afterwards, when the Fabergé Tiara was sold through Seiler of Vevey in Switzerland after the First World War to King Albert I of Belgium for Queen Elisabeth, who seems to have never worn it publicly.
Queen Elisabeth left the Leuchtenberg Fabergé Tiara to her younger son, Prince Charles of Belgium, Count of Flanders, in 1965, who in turn, left the Tiara to his sister, Queen Marie José of Italy, in 1983.
In 2001, the Fabergé Tiara was inherited by Queen Maria José’s daughter, Princess Maria Gabriella of Savoy, who put it up for auction at Christie’s in Geneva in 2007, where it fetched GBP 1,050,400 after an estimate of GBP 400,000 – GBP 600,000.
The Leuchtenberg Fabergé Tiara was bought by the Arthur and Dorothy McFerrin Foundation at Christie’s for $2,071,389 and is now on display at the Houston Museum of Natural Science, along with the Mecklenburg-Schwerin Fabergé Aquamarine Tiara and Fabergé Westminster Tiara.
In the Season Two finale of The Gilded Age, Mrs Russell wore a magnificent recreation of the Leuchtenberg Fabergé Tiara for her crowning moment at the Opening of the Metropolitan Opera House.
