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Emerald belonging to Empress Josephine?
Posted by Beth on January 1, 2020, 5:37 am
I was intrigued to find numerous reports in the UK newspapers in 1928 of an emerald said to have belonged to Empress Josephine for sale by Mauboussin.
Obviously the setting is not from the Napoleonic era.
Does anyone know if this emerald, said to weigh 24.38 carats, was part of Empress Josephine's jewels?
I would assume that a firm such as Mauboussin would have had some reasonable evidence for their claim.
Does anyone know what where the jewel is today? The emerald itself is such a distinctive shape that, even if the setting were changed, the stone might still be recognised.
There is a link here which says "In 1806, Napoleon Bonaparte gifted a stunning emerald and diamond parure, part of the Beauharnais Emerald collection, to his adopted daughter Stéphanie upon her marriage to the Grand Duke of Baden. The necklace and earrings, which are now held in the antique jewelry collection at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, are all that remain of a larger suite."
It is entirely possible of course that the emerald Mauboussin were marketing in 1928 formed part of this parure although I found this also:
"Of great beauty, it was known to be the gem emerald of Napoleon because it was given by this person in 1800 to Giuseppina Beauharnais, weighing 24.38 carats and later acquired the ownership of the Paris jeweler M. Mauboussin."
I have my slight concerns about this because in 1800 Napoleon was yet to reach his full ascendancy (becoming First Consul in Nov 1799), how could he afford one of the world's greatest emeralds at this time?
Hancocks, a celebrated London jeweller has the following on Mauboussin and the 1928 exhibition:
"In 1928 Mauboussin organised the first of three exhibitions held in their Paris showroom dedicated to the beauty of gemstones. Their aim was to draw attention to the range and quality of gems that the company was able to source for clients and that were used in their jewellery. The first one focused on emeralds with 280 pieces displayed, the centrepiece being a stunning 24ct emerald given by Napoleon to Josephine in 1800 and re-mounted for the occasion in a stunning oriental inspired design. Rubies and diamonds followed in 1930 and 31 respectively both of which were widely attended, attracting the attention of the Prince of Wales and the Maharajas of Kapurthala and Indore."
I think I found a clearer picture of the Mauboussin emerald, although I think this creates just more mystery as there is also reference to the Queen of Naples Emerald which was also being exhibited in 1928 and across the page there is reference to the Porter-Rhodes diamond. Lots of fun to keep us all busy in 2020!!!!!!!
The diamond was brought by Graff in 1987 for a then record price and was presumably then sold on privately.
I must say I hate when these large diamonds are turned into gaudy looking rings, a diamond of this size looks terrible on someone's finger in my view. It looked much better as a necklace/pendant.