Description - Portrait Diamonds of the Romanovs by Diana Scarisbrick
Among all the precious historical jewels, few are as precious as portrait diamonds. The portrait diamond - a miniature covered with a flat diamond unique for its shape as well as for its perfection and clarity - is an exceedingly rare personal ornament. The authors argue that most examples of portrait diamonds depict sovereigns and that they were amongst the most prestigious awards that could be bestowed at a European court.
This fascinating study examines for the first time the history of the portrait diamond in Russia, when the rare and unusual form achieved its greatest height under the lavish patronage of the Romanovs. Eleven portrait diamonds adorn six different jewels associated with Russian tsars, tsarinas, grand dukes, and duchesses, beginning with the legendary Peter the Great (1672-1725) and concluding with the four daughters of Nicolas II (1868-1918) and Alexandra Feodorovna (1872-1918): Olga, Tatiana, Maria, and Anastasia, whose tragic assassination occurred in 1918. Included also are Emperor Nicolas I, Empress Maria Alexandrovna, Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich, among others. The jewels range from rings, to earrings, to pendants, and include one demi-parure. Their great rarity is corroborated in an Appendix by Karen Kettering that situates this group of eleven portrait diamonds among the fewer than fifty examples known in the world, many of which are either recorded but evidently lost or located today in important museum collections.
The two-volume study is published as a boxed set which features new research, remarkable photographs, and diagnostic analysis of the genre of the portrait diamond. Volume I is illustrated with spectacular photographs of all the portrait diamonds, along with short descriptions of each. Volume II includes an expanded introduction examining the portrait diamond within the history of the genre, with references to comparable examples made for members of the English and French courts, and which traces the history of the portrait diamond in Russia through its patronage, its jewellers, and its relationship to the renowned Faberge Easter eggs.
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