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The Calabria Sapphire Parure
Posted by Thomas on December 9, 2018, 2:00 am
Courtesy of the Museo del Traje, in Madrid (via Google Arts & Culture), we have another photograph, the first in colour, of Infanta Alicia, Duchess of Calabria, wearing her Sapphire Parure, a 1936 wedding gift from Alfonso of Bourbon Two Sicilies, her husband.
Infanta Alicia, Duchess of Calabria, with fashion designer Pedro Rodríguez with (courtesy of the Museo del Traje, Madrid, via Google Arts & Culture)
The parure at the time of the marriage, c. 1936.
The Art-Deco sapphire parure, along with a ruby parure, may have been made by Chaumet with stones that had belonged to Queen Maria Cristina of Spain, Don Alfonso's grandmother.
Previously, only two black-and-white photographs were known, both probably from the same sitting.
The parure, along with the ruby parure, was mentioned in the Inventory of Prince Alfonso's properties after his death. On the express wish of Infanta Alicia, both parures (described under n°3 to 14) were given directly to her two daughters. The Duke and Duchess had been married under the separate property system, and Infanta Alicia relinquished property of both sets of jewels which were her only personal properties received from her husband.
In the inventory contained in Alfonso's will, released as part of a judicial inquiry on suspected tax-evasion by the family, the sapphire parure is described as such: 3. A diadem of sapphires 4. A necklace of sapphires 5. A bracelet of sapphires 6. A pair of ear-pendants of sapphires 7. A ring of sapphires 8. Two brooches of sapphires
On a side note, no mention is made of the pearl parure, which may have been a gift from another family member, or (unlikely) disposed of before this date.
The Sapphire Parure was ultimately sold in 1982 at Christie's Geneva, presumably to the benefit of one of Alicia's daughters.
At this point, one brooch and the ring had been separated from the rest of the set, and the earrings had been substantially altered.
The current whereabouts of the jewels are unknown to me.
Interesting information Thomas, I've always admired greatly this sapphire parure. Would you happen to have any pictures of the ruby and pearl parure reported to have been in the duchess of Calabria's collection?
Regards,
Dave.
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Courtesy of the Museo del Traje, in Madrid (via Google Arts & Culture), we have another photograph, the first in colour, of Infanta Alicia, Duchess of Calabria, wearing her Sapphire Parure, a 1936 wedding gift from Alfonso of Bourbon Two Sicilies, her husband.
Infanta Alicia, Duchess of Calabria, with fashion designer Pedro Rodríguez with (courtesy of the Museo del Traje, Madrid, via Google Arts & Culture)
The parure at the time of the marriage, c. 1936.
The Art-Deco sapphire parure, along with a ruby parure, may have been made by Chaumet with stones that had belonged to Queen Maria Cristina of Spain, Don Alfonso's grandmother.
Previously, only two black-and-white photographs were known, both probably from the same sitting.
The parure, along with the ruby parure, was mentioned in the Inventory of Prince Alfonso's properties after his death. On the express wish of Infanta Alicia, both parures (described under n°3 to 14) were given directly to her two daughters. The Duke and Duchess had been married under the separate property system, and Infanta Alicia relinquished property of both sets of jewels which were her only personal properties received from her husband.
In the inventory contained in Alfonso's will, released as part of a judicial inquiry on suspected tax-evasion by the family, the sapphire parure is described as such: 3. A diadem of sapphires 4. A necklace of sapphires 5. A bracelet of sapphires 6. A pair of ear-pendants of sapphires 7. A ring of sapphires 8. Two brooches of sapphires
On a side note, no mention is made of the pearl parure, which may have been a gift from another family member, or (unlikely) disposed of before this date.
The Sapphire Parure was ultimately sold in 1982 at Christie's Geneva, presumably to the benefit of one of Alicia's daughters.
At this point, one brooch and the ring had been separated from the rest of the set, and the earrings had been substantially altered.
The current whereabouts of the jewels are unknown to me.
Dave, I will do a full post on the ruby parure in the coming days.
Previous Message
Interesting information Thomas, I've always admired greatly this sapphire parure. Would you happen to have any pictures of the ruby and pearl parure reported to have been in the duchess of Calabria's collection?
Regards,
Dave.
Previous Message
Courtesy of the Museo del Traje, in Madrid (via Google Arts & Culture), we have another photograph, the first in colour, of Infanta Alicia, Duchess of Calabria, wearing her Sapphire Parure, a 1936 wedding gift from Alfonso of Bourbon Two Sicilies, her husband.
Infanta Alicia, Duchess of Calabria, with fashion designer Pedro Rodríguez with (courtesy of the Museo del Traje, Madrid, via Google Arts & Culture)
The parure at the time of the marriage, c. 1936.
The Art-Deco sapphire parure, along with a ruby parure, may have been made by Chaumet with stones that had belonged to Queen Maria Cristina of Spain, Don Alfonso's grandmother.
Previously, only two black-and-white photographs were known, both probably from the same sitting.
The parure, along with the ruby parure, was mentioned in the Inventory of Prince Alfonso's properties after his death. On the express wish of Infanta Alicia, both parures (described under n°3 to 14) were given directly to her two daughters. The Duke and Duchess had been married under the separate property system, and Infanta Alicia relinquished property of both sets of jewels which were her only personal properties received from her husband.
In the inventory contained in Alfonso's will, released as part of a judicial inquiry on suspected tax-evasion by the family, the sapphire parure is described as such: 3. A diadem of sapphires 4. A necklace of sapphires 5. A bracelet of sapphires 6. A pair of ear-pendants of sapphires 7. A ring of sapphires 8. Two brooches of sapphires
On a side note, no mention is made of the pearl parure, which may have been a gift from another family member, or (unlikely) disposed of before this date.
The Sapphire Parure was ultimately sold in 1982 at Christie's Geneva, presumably to the benefit of one of Alicia's daughters.
At this point, one brooch and the ring had been separated from the rest of the set, and the earrings had been substantially altered.
The current whereabouts of the jewels are unknown to me.
Lovely thread Thomas and thanks for sharing the new photo!
In my research on the Tiara, HERE, I also discovered a picture of the Tiara being worn by Princess Anne, the subsequent Duchess of Calabria, and a picture of Infanta Alicia wearing parts of the Sapphire Parure at the Wedding of King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia in 1962!
This is not exactly a photo, but rather a photoshop which circulates on the net. The original photo is a Maurice Zalewski picture for Point de Vue around 1975, and princess Anne does not wear a tiara on it. You can clearly see the tiara is too big and not very well balanced on the head. You can also see that the picture was scanned on a copy of Point de Vue, because the paper we used at the tjme was very poor quality. The tiara was added later. To my knowledge, princess Anne word that tiara once, but not on that day.
Re: photoshop
Posted by The Royal Watcher on December 9, 2018, 7:26 am, in reply to "photoshop "
Thanks for your reply Vincent! I somehow feared that was the case, but since I knew that she had worn it, and I could see the spaces behind the tiara, I just assumed it was an odd placement!
Re: photoshop
Posted by Beth on December 9, 2018, 1:07 pm, in reply to "Re: photoshop "
Thank you Vincent. It never ceases to amaze me how some people like to help history along by photoshopping images. I am one of those who is not very good at spotting such things and so I too assumed it was simply that the Duchess' tiara was awkwardly placed.
Re: photoshop
Posted by Thomas on December 9, 2018, 7:49 pm, in reply to "photoshop "
Thanks Vincent for your input, I didn't know the photograph was the work of Zalewski.
Like Beth I don't understand why one would do such a thing, especially when the fake is as obvious as this one.
But you aroused my interest saying that Anne d'Orléans wore the tiara... are you able to tell us more?
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This is not exactly a photo, but rather a photoshop which circulates on the net. The original photo is a Maurice Zalewski picture for Point de Vue around 1975, and princess Anne does not wear a tiara on it. You can clearly see the tiara is too big and not very well balanced on the head. You can also see that the picture was scanned on a copy of Point de Vue, because the paper we used at the tjme was very poor quality. The tiara was added later. To my knowledge, princess Anne word that tiara once, but not on that day.
Tiara Anne de France
Posted by Vincent on December 9, 2018, 9:05 pm, in reply to "Re: photoshop "
I just read on another board, which is always of great quality, very personal comments about princess Anne of France ( this is the official title from the Spanish court ) and her late mother in law. I always try to avoid personal comments. They are yseless and often rude. Especially when they come from people who have never met the people they are talking about. It makes everything so complicated. I have always thought that princesse Anne of France duchess of Calabria was a very royal lady. Actually she is very much like her father, the late Comte de Paris. She does not talk a lot, but when she does it always mean something. Furthermore, I don't think princess Alice was obsessed by the fact that she was a descendant of Charles the Xth of France and that her daughter in law was descendant of king Louis Philippe. After all princess Alice agreed to be the god mother of princess Chantal of France who is princess Anne ' s younger sister. One often forget that before infante Alfonso claimed the leadership of the two Sicily house, both families got on very well. They were quite close cousin through the Spanish royal house. The late Comte de Paris absolutely loved infanta Isabelle Alphonsine ( Alicia ' s sister in law) At one point, infante Alfonso even asked the hand of the future comtesse de Paris in marriage and she said no. To come back to that parure, i have in mind one occasion during which she wore, at least the tiara and the earrings. Obviously they were lent to her by her sister in law. I will try to find a picture to post it.
Thanks The Royal Watcher, although the first picture is indeed photoshopped, the second one is quite interesting.
I had saved a colour picture (by Life Magazine) which I thought showed Alicia casually sat on a flight of stairs, during the wedding celebrations in Athens. Now it is clear that she wore the necklace from the parure, probably one of the last times she did so.
Very, very interesting! Thank you Thomas! I really enjoyed seeing the section of the inventory from the will of the Duke.
If the jewels were a wedding gift to Infanta Alicia and were her personal property why would they have been included in an inventory of her husband's assets? I confess that I do not understand the various forms of agreements for property in marriage contracts either.
In the first pages of the will, it is explained that Alicia wanted the Sapphire and Ruby parures to be given to her daughters, as it had been her husband's clear intention that the jewels be passed to his daughters after his (or Alicia's?) death.
Anyway it was Alicia's own decision, but then she had enough jewels of her own to be able to part with two parures!
on December 9, 2018, 2:00 am
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