Sotheby’s is auctioning a diamond brooch that belonged to Napoleon in Geneva.
Surprise: a Napoleonic jewel is up for auction with Sotheby’s. However, it’s not related to the jewels at the center of the surprising theft at the Louvre. The highlight will be auctioned at the Mandarin Oriental in Geneva on November 12th. It’s a unique and historically important diamond jewel owned by Napoleon Bonaparte and seized on the day of the Battle of Waterloo. The estimate is $150,000-$250,000. It’s not the only jewel with royal blood. Also up for sale are jewels that belonged to Kunigunde of Saxony, cousin of Louis XVI, and Neslishah Sultan, the last Ottoman princess.
The old-cut diamond brooch, once owned by Napoleon Bonaparte, was seized by the Prussian army during the French emperor’s escape after his defeat at the Battle of Waterloo. This is the first time it has been auctioned. The Emperor had brought it with him to Waterloo, along with medals, weapons, silverware, a hat, and a jewelry box containing dozens of loose diamonds and jewels. Napoleon had to abandon some of his carriages when they became stuck on a muddy road a few miles from the battlefield, including the one containing those precious objects.
The circular diamond brooch, approximately 45 millimeters in diameter, features a large oval diamond weighing 13.04 carats at its center and is surrounded by nearly one hundred old-cut diamonds of various shapes and sizes, arranged in two concentric rows. This unique piece was created for Napoleon around 1810, most likely to adorn his bicorne hat on special occasions. The brooch, or hat ornament, was equipped with a suspension hook so it could be worn as a pendant. Seized after the battle, it became part of the Prussian crown jewels, presented to Prussian King Frederick William III as a battle trophy on June 21, 1815, three days after Waterloo. The jewel remained for centuries in the House of Hohenzollern, passed down from King Frederick William III to the German emperors. In recent years, it has been part of another private collection.
The jewel’s transfer from a now-defeated Emperor Napoleon I to a victorious King Frederick William III is more than symbolic. It represents a dramatic reversal of fortune for Prussia, whose army had been virtually annihilated in the early years of the Napoleonic Wars, with the Prussian territories and their inhabitants subjected to Napoleonic rule as a client state for over six years. It marks Prussia’s rise as a major European power, on a par with Great Britain, Russia, and the Austrian Empire, culminating in the Germany we know today. There is no doubting the weight of history accumulated in this exceptional diamond jewel, which takes on an almost talismanic quality, having survived over 200 years virtually intact, despite having witnessed some of the most strenuous events that have shaped and reshaped Europe.
This year’s Sotheby’s Royal and Noble Jewels sale features a curated collection of jewels of illustrious provenance.
It is a tremendous privilege to be able to auction, year after year in Geneva, such exquisite jewels, boasting prestigious provenance. Our Royal and Noble auction continues to be unparalleled in the auction world and sets new standards. The presentation, in the same sale, of jewels belonging to Emperor Napoleon I and Empress Catherine I, via one of the greatest Ottoman princesses, to name just two splendid examples, demonstrates our ongoing quest to offer the most discerning collectors the absolute best.
Andres White Correal, President of Jewellery Europe and Middle East, Head of Noble Jewels
Also on offer are a rare and historically important natural pearl and diamond hair ornament and a brooch, both owned by a noble European family (estimated at 340,000–500,000 Swiss francs).
The exceptionally rare hair ornament and its accompanying brooch are examples of jewelry that constitute historical treasures. Both pieces are intentionally presented as a single historical ensemble, just as they were preserved together for nearly two centuries. Their shared history is that of an important collection of magnificent natural pearls, initially owned by Prince Franz Xavier of Saxony and Poland (1730–1806), who had one son and five daughters, including Cunigunde of Saxony, Marchioness of Montoro (1774–1828). Cunigunde was a blood cousin of the King of Spain, the King of Naples, and the ill-fated King of France, Louis XVI, husband of Marie Antoinette. The pearls were initially mounted as a tiara for Cunigunde’s wedding in 1796. Then, as is tradition for jewels and pearls, after Cunigunde’s death, the tiara passed as an inheritance, in this case, to the last of her three sons.
Around 1840, Cunégonde’s tiara was dismantled and the pearls reassembled as a hair ornament. Its distinctive style harks back to a very brief fad, at the height of the Romantic movement, for the Sévigné: typically a hair ornament designed to frame the face with long garlands of precious stones worn across the crown of the head from ear to ear. This Sévigné, most likely designed by the French jeweler Fossin (now known as Chaumet), is perhaps the last surviving example of this design. Its survival, virtually intact, is remarkable and may be due to the piece’s extreme versatility. Once the Sévigné fell out of fashion, the piece was skillfully modified, while preserving its integrity, to allow it to be used as a necklace, a devant-de-corsage, and a set of fabulous hairpins.
The brooch was made later, incorporating pearls of the same provenance, although its ribbon design is more reminiscent of the styles of the 1860s, which drew inspiration from 18th-century examples. The brooch is particularly notable for the quality of its central button-shaped pearl.
Also up for auction is a historic light pink diamond and diamond ring, formerly in the collection of Princess Neslishah Sultan (1921-2012), estimated at 240,000-400,000 Swiss francs. It is being offered at auction for the first time. The brilliant-cut light pink old-mine diamond weighing just over 13 carats is part of a collection of 20 jewels that belonged to one of the last Ottoman princesses. Neslishah Sultan was the last to have her date of birth recorded in the palace register of members of the Ottoman dynasty before the fall of the Ottoman Empire, thus becoming the last to officially receive the title of sultan or princess of the blood imperial.
The Princess embodied the end of an era, both in her native Turkey and in Egypt, where she married Muhammad Abdel Moneim (1899–1979), the legitimate heir to the Mohammed Ali dynasty, whose Khedive ruled Egypt until 1914, acting as viceroy to the Sultan of Turkey. By the late 1930s, the Egyptian court was the most opulent in the world, and the penchant for glamour and the use of bold, exquisite jewelry continued into the 1950s, despite Egypt’s gradual decline amid political turmoil and revolts.
A week before her wedding in 1940, Neslishah received this light pink diamond ring from the groom’s aunt, Princess Khadija Hanim, which Empress Catherine I, widow of Tsar Peter the Great, had given to Ottoman Sultan Ahmed III during the negotiations for the Treaty of Prut in 1711. These diamonds remained in the Ottoman treasury for generations, until Sultan Abdul Hamid II (1842–1918) gave them to his cousin, Princess Emina Ilhamy (1858–1931), mother of Khedive Abbas Hilmi II, the groom’s father. The ring remained with her until her death in 2012 in Turkey, where she was allowed to return with her husband after experiencing great tragedies, including exile, house arrest, false accusations, and the numerous upheavals in postwar history in Egypt and Türkiye. Beyond the illustrious origins of the diamond within, this historically significant ring is a symbol of a life lived with grace, dignity, and resilience in the face of adversity.
