Year :
|
c.1907 |
Material :
|
Silver,Gold,Diamond |
Collection :
|
ALBION ART Collection |
Provenance :
|
Boucheron |
Exhibition : |
Crowning Glories :
Two Centuries of Tiaras
1 March ~ 25 June 2000
Museum Of Fine Arts, Boston
TIARA Dignity and Beauty -
the story of the Tiara
20 January ~ 22 July 2007
The Bunkamura Museum of Art / The Niigata Bandaijima Art Museum / The Museum of Kyoto
Organizers : Nippon Television Network Corporation and others
BRILLIANT EUROPE
JEWELS FROM EUROPEAN COURTS
24 October ~ 17 February 2008
ING Cultural Centre, Brussels
|
PUBLICATION : |
Tiaras
PAST AND PRESENT
GEOFFREY MUNN
TIARAS
A History of Splendour
Geoffrey C. Mun
QUEENS’ JEWELS
VINCENT MEYLAN |
|
<Description>
The gold and silver tiara which rests on a narrow line of diamonds above a base of collet set diamonds consists of a series of scrolled stems of vine (rinceaux) interspersed with large diamonds within diamond borders on stems centred on a large yellow diamond similarly surrounded. Boucheron , Paris 1907.
<Provenance>
Princess Abamelek-Lazarev, to her nephew Prince Paul of Yugoslavia, and by inheritance to his son Prince Alexander of Yugoslavia.
<Commentary>
The Russian Princess Maria Pavlovna Demidoff (1878-1954) was the daughter of Prince Paul Demidoff, 2nd Prince of San Donato and his wife, Princess Helena Troubetskoi. The Demidoffs whose colossal fortune derived from their gold, iron and copper mines in Siberia had lived in the Palace of San Donato just outside the city of Florence in Italy since the 1820’s. Princess Maria inherited money, property and the art treasures for which the Demidoff family was famous. In 1897 she married Prince Semen Semovich Abamelek-Lazarev, member of a grand Georgian family. The tiara from Boucheron was just one of the many jewels that the Princess Abamelek- Lazarev wore to important social events Europe and Russia, for a true Russian, she had a passion for precious stones demonstrated by the size and quantity of the yellow diamonds blazing out from this tiara. Her happy marriage and active social life came to an end in 1916 when Prince Semen Abamelek-Lazarev was murdered by Bolsheviks. Thereafter she dressed in black, devoted herself to charitable causes and spent most of her time living quietly on the estate at San Donato. Having no children, in 1904 she adopted as heir to her wealth and great possessions, Paul Karageorgeivich, Prince of Yugoslavia, son of her sister Aurora Demidoff who after an unstable life had died that year. Prince Paul was a brilliant man who acted as Regent of Yugoslavia during the minority of his nephew, King Peter, and had many influential connexions in the worlds of diplomacy and politics. In 1923 he married Princess Olga (1903-1997), daughter of Prince Nicholas of Greece and granddaughter of the formidable Grand Duchess Wladimir, whose nephew by marriage was the last Tsar of Russia, Nicholas II. Since Prince Paul and Princess Olga led the lives of royalty, being related to all the kings and queens of Europe, from the time of the marriage she had numerous occasions to wear the tiara which Princess Abamelek-Lazarev either lent or gave her. Although it suited her distinguished looks and excellent figure, there was one problem, and this was that because the tiara was so imposing that it was noticed everywhere, the weight of so many large diamonds always gave Princess Olga a headache. However although she complained about this disadvantage she continued to wear it, knowing that few other women had a tiara of such magnificence.
Diana Scarisbrick |
