Zu Weihnachten 1911 kaufte Großfürst Kyrill bei Cartier
in St Petersburg, für seine Gemahlin Victoria-Melitta von Sachsen-Coburg dies Saphirhalsband von empirehafter Schönheit, an dem ein eiförmiger
Sternsaphir von 311Karat hing.
Das lange Art deco Diamantcollier mit den brillantbesetzten langgezogenen
Gliedern und dem eiförmigem Sternsaphir in Cabochon geschliffen
von 311,33ct , hatte im Mittelpunkt einen weiteren Saphircabochon
von 39,13ct, gefasst.
Grandeur und Großartigkeit ganz im Geschmack der russischen Kunden,
brachten solch imposante Schöpfungen der St Petersburger und Pariser
Juweliere zu ihrem Ruf. Ein Saphir von dieser enormen Grösse
und Farbe, gehört sicher zu den grössten Saphiren der Welt,
ein Juwel für Liebhaber von exquisitem und ausgefallenem Schmuck
die Raritäten schätzen.
Die Großfürstin Kirill, verkaufte dieses Sautoir später an
ihre Schwester Königin Marie von Rumänien, die gerade ein
passendes Hochzeitsgeschenk für ihre älteste Tochter Prinzessin
Elisabeth von Rumänien suchte.
Victoria Melita Feodorovna Princess of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Grand Duchess
of Russia, in 1894 married Ernst Ludwig of Hesse, (divorced 1900),
and in 1905 married the Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovitch of Russia.
He presented her this magnificent sapphire-diamond sautoir made by
Cartier in 1911 as a Christmas gift. The diamond sautoir had a cabochon
star sapphire pendant of 311.33ct while the central sapphire cabochon
of 39.13ct was surrounded by diamonds.
As the wife of Grand Duke Kirill, eldest son of Grand Duchess Wladimir,
her fortune was limited to her jewelry after fleeing Russia. At that
time the European market was inundated with precious stones from Germany,
Russia and Austria and anyone wishing to sell their jewellery rarely
obtained a fair price.
When in 1921 Queen Marie of Romania, sister of Victoria Melita, was
looking to compose her eldest daughter’s wedding trousseau,
she bought this diamond sautoir from which a huge egg-shaped cabochon
sapphire, weighing three hundred and eleven carats, was suspended.
This Cartier creation marked the wedding of
Princess Elizabeth and Crown Prince Georg of Greece.
Victoria Melita, Princess of Great Britain and Ireland, of Edinburgh,
and of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, was the daughter of Alfred, Duke of
Edinburgh, the second eldest son of Queen Victoria.
Her son, Vladimir Kirilovich was extremely well educated and spoke
Russian as well as French, English, German and Spanish, and was devoted
to the Russian Orthodox Church. With the death of his father in 1938,
Grand Duke Vladimir Kirilovich came to be seen as the only legitimate
heir to the throne, as all the other surviving claimants had married
morganatically, thus excluding themselves.
Grand Duke Vladimir Kirilovich married Princess Leonida Georgievna
Bagration-Mukhransky, the daughter of the Head of the Georgian Imperial
House. On December 23, 1953 in Madrid they had a daughter, Grand Duchess
Maria Vladimirovna.
In some circles outside the Soviet Union, he was considered the rightful
heir to the Romanov throne.
On December, 23, 1969, Grand Duke Vladimir Kirilovich declared that
upon his death his daughter Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna would
succeed him. Grand Duke Vladimir Kirilovich died in Miami and, in
one of the more startling events of the early post-Soviet period,
was buried on May 29, 1992 in the Grand-ducal tomb of the Peter and
Paul Fortress in Saint Petersburg.
Large
Sapphire - Cartier Diamond Sautoir Grand Duchess Victoria Melitta |Later owned by Elizabeth Princess of Romania grosser Saphir und Cartier Diamant
Kette
THE COLLECTION:
