Today marks the 220th Anniversary of the Wedding of Princess Stéphanie de Beauharnais to the future Grand Duke of Baden on this day in 1806! This magnificent Nitot Emerald and Diamond Parure was given as a Wedding Gift by Emperor Napoleon and Empress Joséphine and is now on display at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London!
Hohenzollern Sapphire Parure | Pearl Tiara | Emerald Parure | Beauharnais Pearl Tiara
The daughter of a first cousin of Vicomte de Beauharnais, the first husband of Empress Joséphine, Stéphanie de Beauharnais grew up close to the Imperial Family. Adopted by Napoleon and made a ‘Princesse Française’, she married the Hereditary Prince of Baden in 1806 and brought a dowry worth 500,000 francs along with magnificent jewels of the same value, which included this magnificent Emerald and Diamond Parure consisting of a Tiara, a Necklace and a pair of Earrings alongside several brooches and Bracelets created by the Court Jeweller Nitot.
This necklace and earrings are part of a larger set or parure of jewellery. It is believed that the French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte and his consort Joséphine gave them to their adopted daughter, Stéphanie de Beauharnais, on her arranged marriage to the heir of the Grand Duke of Baden in 1806.
The Necklace, faceted table-cut emeralds in borders of brilliant-cut diamonds; briolette emerald drops; open-set in gold and silver. Extra drops were added to the back of the necklace in the 1820s.
Emeralds cut as drops, as impressive carrés, as well as round faceted emeralds of the finest quality, together with large diamonds formed into classical patterns, made up the diadem, combined with palmettes and diamond waves. These alternate with clasps ending in large circles, each set in diamonds. It was a splendid diadem, worn low on the forehead according to the fashion of the time.
Grand Duchess Stéphanie of Baden was notably depicted wearing her Nitot Emerald Parure given by Emperor Napoleon and Empress Joséphine in a portrait by François Gérard around 1810.
After Grand Duchess Stéphanie’s death in 1860, her Beauharnais Pearl Tiara was inherited by her granddaughter, Queen Carola of Saxony, the Sapphire Parure and a Pearl Tiara were left to her second daughter, the Princess of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, and this Nitot Emerald Parure was left to the youngest daughter, Princess Marie Amelie, the Duchess of Hamilton and Brandon, described in her will as:
I give to my daughter Mary, Duchess of Hamilton (…) an emerald and diamond set, consisting of a tiara, a necklace, a pair of earrings and five brooches.”
Following the Duchess of Hamilton’s death in 1888, the Grand Duchess of Baden’s Emerald Parure was among the jewels left to her only daughter, Countess Tassilo Festetics de Tolna, former Hereditary Princess of Monaco, and was written in her will as:
I appoint my daughter Maria, Countess Tassilo Festetics, as sole heiress of all my jewels. Diamond, emerald, turquoise and pearl sets, my bracelets, rings, medallions.”
It is likely that the Parure was sold off following the death of Princess Festetics de Tolna in 1922, and by the 1930s, the Grand Duchess of Baden’s Emerald Parure was in the possession of Mrs Robert Hudson, later the 1st Viscountess Hudson, who was depicted wearing the Necklace, Earrings and several Brooches by Gyula Asztalos in 1937, now in the Salon of Alex Rieunier in Paris, and they were noted even a decade later in Tatler:
The wearer of the finest jewels was Mrs. Hudson, the French-born widow of Mr. Robert Hudson, who was wearing a magnificent set of emeralds. 1947 Monaco”
The Emerald Parure seems to have been broken up not long after the Second World War, and only the Necklace and the pair of Earrings were acquired by Count Tagliavia. Several decades later, his widow, Countess Margharita Tagliavia, presented Stéphanie de Beauharnais’ Emerald Parure, to the Victoria and Albert Museum in London in memory of her son in 1979, where it is on permanent display in the Jewellery Gallery.
Following the theft of the French Crown Jewels from the Louvre last year, these are the last surviving intact Napoleonic Emeralds still in existence, and, over the past few months, Stéphanie de Beauharnais’ Emerald Parure was back in Paris, where it was on display in the ‘Dynastic Jewels’ Exhibition at the Hôtel de la Marine in Paris until earlier this week, but will be back at the Victoria and Albert Museum later this month!
Beauharnais Pearl Tiara
Emerald Parure
Pearl Tiara
Hohenzollern Sapphire Parure
Empress Joséphine’s Diamond Tiara
Empress Marie Louise’s Emerald Tiara
Napoléon Diamond Necklace
Topaz Parure
Diamond Scroll Tiara
Empress Eugénie’s Pearl Tiara
Empress Eugenie’s Emeralds
Diamond Bow Brooch
Andean Emerald Cross
French Crown Pearl Brooch
