AN EXQUISITE PAIR OF EMERALD, NATURAL PEARL AND DIAMOND EAR PENDANTS, BY ETCETERA

Each suspending a square-shaped emerald weighing 9.12 and 8.84 carats with brilliant-cut diamond accents, to the drop-shaped pearls, measuring 10.39 - 10.55 x 16.08 and 10.20 - 10.40 x 16.81 mm, from the triangular-shaped emeralds and half-domed pearls with diamond detail surmount, mounted in 18k white gold, 5.2 cm long, with original fitted pink leather Cartier case for emeralds only. With maker's mark for Etcetera. Price Realized: HK$18,807,500 ($2,420,901)

Accompanied by report no. 50437 dated 24 January 2008 from the SSEF Swiss Gemological Institute stating that the 9.12 and 8.84 carat emeralds are of Colombia origin with no indications of clarity modification; and that the analysed properties confirm the authenticity of the saltwater natural pearls (2)

EMERALDS FROM THE ROMANOVS

In the sixteenth-century, when the Spanish Conquistadors landed on the western shores of pre-Columbian America, they not only captured the largest empire of that world - the Inca Empire, but seized a great treasure - the finest emeralds the world has ever seen. These velvet-green gems soon reached Europe and beyond: to the Ottoman Turks, the Safavid Persians and the Mughal Indians. All the royal houses of the world sought to gather great hoards of these viridiant stones.

Into the late nineteenth-century, the Romanov Dynasty was considered one of the wealthiest monarchs, and displayed the most sumptuous and glamorous jewellery of all Europe. The Tsars were 'fascinated by Asia's barbarian splendour, and proud of their power [they] were wont to parade in jewelled robes and diamond-studded crowns [...]. Duly informed by diplomats and travellers as to the doings and "etiquette" of brilliant eastern and western Courts, [Russia's] Tsars and noblemen were but too anxious to surpass all rivals.' (cf. A. E. Fersman, Russia's Treasure of Diamonds and Precious Stones, Moscow 1925). At the height of the Romanov Dynasty, Russia's imperial jewels represented the most important and largest collection of crown jewellery, and included some of the world's most splendid gemstones, among them a magnificent 136.25-carat Colombian emerald acquired during the reign of Tsar Nicholas I.

Colombian emeralds of important size, colour and clarity were originally almost exclusively the property of royalty or aristocracy. The history of Lot 2346, a pair of Colombian emeralds weighing 9.12 and 8.84 carats each, carry a historical and distinguished provenance. They date back to Tsar Alexander II who ruled from 1855-1881, and formed part of a magnificent emerald and diamond necklace which the Tsar bequeathed to his daughter-in-law, the Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna Vladimir (1854-1920), who was married to his son the Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich (1847-1909).

The Grand Duchess is pictured here in traditional Russian costume, wearing the emerald necklace as the base of a briolette diamond tiara. Her rectangular-cut 107.72-carat emerald brooch suspends a cabochon emerald drop (cf. Hans Nadelhoffer, Cartier Jewelers Extraordinary, Great Britain 1984, p. 70); the former reputed to be the second most beautiful large emerald in the world, surpassed only in weight by another emerald owned by Catherine the Great. According to Russian chroniclers of high society, the Grand Duchess Vladimir, who was one of Cartier's most important clients, used to put everyone else in the shade when she appeared, bristling with emeralds, at Boni de Castellane's balls in the Palais Rose in Paris. After fleeing Russia in late 1919, she died in France the following year and passed on to each of her four children gemstones of a single colour: André received the rubies, Helen the diamonds, Cyril the pearls and Boris the emeralds (cf. ibid. p. 237 and 123).

So it was in 1927 that Louis Cartier was able to purchase from the Grand Duke Boris the splendid emerald necklace together with the 107.72-carat emerald. Sold together, the emeralds reappeared several years later thanks to one of one of the great jewellery connoisseurs of the century. The emeralds were bought from the Payne Whitney family in the United States and subsequently re-designed into a necklace on which the present pair of 9.12 and 8.84-carat emeralds were distributed on both sides of the clasp. Pictured here, this necklace was then sold to Pierre Cartier who attached the 107.72-carat emerald as a pendant. In 1954, the emerald pendant was reduced to a drop of 75.63 carats, and the necklace was eventually sold to the Rockefellers. It was last seen in public when sold at auction in Zurich in November 1971 (cf. ibid. p. 130).
The necklace has since been disassembled. The present pair of square-cut emeralds appeared at Christie's auction on 22nd February 1990 in St Moritz, and was sold with a fitted pink leather case made by Cartier. The emeralds were then sold again on 21st May 1998 in Geneva. They reappear at Christie's auction today in Hong Kong with an aura of eternity, its green fire reminiscent of a time long past: of court-life in the palaces, when emeralds portrayed the imperial splendour of the Romanovs, their immortality and faith. Fresh and vivid, these regal stones exhibit a vibrant bluish-green, and untreated, they remain at the top-end of emerald-quality, rare and highly desirable. Presently, the pair of emeralds are set into an exquisite pair of earrings. Designed by Edmond Chin of Etcetera, they are surmounted by dome-shaped pearls and further emeralds. The earrings fittingly suspend a beautiful pair of natural drop-shaped pearls. With over a hundred years of aristocratic and royal associations, this splendid jewel is an extraordinary piece of Russian history.

Provenance: The pair of 9.12 and 8.84 carat emeralds formerly the property of the Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna Vladimir (1854-1920)

Literature: A. E. Fersman (ed.), Russia's Treasure of Diamonds and Precious Stones, Moscow 1925

Hans Nadelhoffer, Cartier Jewelers Extraordinary, Great Britain 1984

Christie's. Jewels:The Hong Kong Sale. 28 May 2008