A jewel of the Romanovs: Historic 197.80-carat sapphire heads to auction
A 197.80-carat sapphire once worn by Russian Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna is heading to auction at Sotheby’s in a Cartier diamond bracelet, Qazinform News Agency reports.
Known as the Romanov sapphire, the cushion-shaped gemstone was part of the Russian crown jewels before passing into private ownership after the Russian Revolution, according to Sotheby’s catalog.
Maria Feodorovna wore the sapphire at the 1903 Winter Palace Ball, placing it and a second, larger sapphire on the front panel of her skirt. Both were in diamond settings by Fabergé. Members of the imperial court attended in elaborate 17th-century Muscovite costumes adorned with jewels.
The exact date the sapphire entered the imperial collection is unknown. Sotheby’s says its unusual faceting suggests a Mughal-era origin. Gemological reports identify Sri Lanka, formerly known as Ceylon, as the stone’s geographical origin and indicate no evidence of heat treatment.
Despite its imperial provenance, the sapphire was placed in a category of gemstones considered to have no historical or artistic significance beyond their intrinsic value when Soviet authorities divided the crown jewels for retention or sale, according to Sotheby’s. It was subsequently sold anonymously.
Socialite and singer Ganna Walska purchased the sapphire from Cartier in 1927, when it was the central pendant of a long necklace.
Walska had the jewel redesigned several times. In 1929, she paired the sapphire with a carved Mughal emerald weighing 256.60 carats in another long necklace. By the time the sapphire appeared at Sotheby’s Parke Bernet in New York in 1971, it was the centerpiece of a shorter sapphire bead necklace.
The stone returned to auction at Sotheby’s Geneva in 1992, set in a necklace of emerald and sapphire beads.
In 2015, nearly nine decades after selling the sapphire to Walska, Cartier created its current setting: a geometric diamond bracelet inspired by the Art Deco style popular at the time of her purchase. The design connects the gemstone’s imperial history with Cartier’s own jewelry-making heritage.
The bracelet also has an interchangeable engraved rock crystal centerpiece decorated with triangular diamonds. It was exhibited in Tokyo in 2019 as part of “The Crystallisation of Time.”
The lot includes gemological reports, Cartier documentation and a French edition of the Fersman catalog, which documented the Russian crown jewels between 1924 and 1926.
Earlier, Qazinform reported that Fabergé’s “Winter Egg,” created in 1913 as a gift from Emperor Nicholas II to his mother, Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna, had sold at Christie’s in London.
