Emily Barber
Head of Department, UK
Lot 243
CHAUMET: DIAMOND NECKLACE, CIRCA 1900
21 September 2023, 11:00 BST
London, New Bond StreetSold for £305,200 inc. premium
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Jennifer Tonkin
Senior Specialist
Marine Lallouette-Pignan
Sale Coordinator
CHAUMET: DIAMOND NECKLACE, CIRCA 1900
The chain designed as a ribbon of old brilliant and rose-cut diamonds, suspending a fringe of seven drops pavé-set with old brilliant and table-cut, cushion and pear-shaped diamonds, each with a delicate rose-cut diamond laurel-leaf surmount, the stem punctuating a loop of the ribbon, connected by duos of pear-shaped diamonds, mounted in silver and gold, signed Chaumet Paris, old brilliant and table-cut, cushion and pear-shaped diamonds very approximately 32.00 carats total, one rose-cut diamond deficient, drops possibly later adapted, inner circumference very approximately 38.5cm
Footnotes
Accompanied by certificate of authenticity from Chaumet. Please contact the department for further information.
Chaumet conceived the design of this jewel in 1896 when the firm was commissioned to make a tiara for the Archduchess Maria Dorothea of Austria (1867-1932) for her wedding to Philippe, Duke of Orleans. This first version, worn by the Archduchess in the two black and white photographs, is noted as having 'inverted arches interspersed with laurel-leaf elements supporting large diamonds in tapered openwork mounts' and was convertible to a necklace. Such was the design's popularity that several slightly different versions were made. This lot is one such version and a rare survivor.
For another version, the Keroüartz tiara, set with baroque pearl drops, that would have also had interchangeable diamond drops, see exhibition catalogue "Chaumet In Majesty, Jewels of Sovereigns since 1780", Monaco, 2019, pp 164-5. For more jewels by Chaumet incorporating similar "floating laurel leaves", made in 1900 and exhibited at the Paris Exposition, see Vever, Henri (trans. Purcell, Katherine), "French Jewellery of the 19th Century", London, 2001, pp 1094-1096. The jury noted M. Chaumet's technical mastery and how his elegant jewels were carefully designed to enhance important gemstones.
