Saturday, March 9, 2013

Swedish Royal Jewels: Bernadotte Diamodn Rose Brooch

The Swedish Royal ladies are known for their inventive ways of incorporating jewels into their hairstyles. Not content with the huge number of tiaras and hairpieces, they adapt other jewels for the purpose.
Bernadotte Rose Brooch
Among such jewels is the Bernadotte Diamond Rose Brooch. It is the form of a beautiful rose on a short stem, surrounded by leaves and rosebuds, all encrusted with diamonds.

Queen Silvia wearing the Rose Brooch as a hairpiece
Although this is definitely a brooch, Queen Silvia has worn it exclusively as a hairpiece. Princess Madeleine has worn it on several occasional, such as the Nobel dinner, and also as a hairpiece. Crown Princess Victoria isn't known to have ever worn it but she has instead donned a similar brooch as a hair ornament - Queen Josephine's Pearl and Ruby Brooch.
Princess Madeleine wearing the Diamond Rose Brooch as hair ornament
Very little is known about this lovely piece. However, diamond rose brooches were very popular during the second half of the 19th century, and this one looks like a typical representative of the diamond rose brooches created during the period. If it isn't an imitation and is an authentic piece of the time, then in all probability it is from Queen Josephine's vast collection.
Mathilde Bonaparte's Tudor Rose Brooch (left) and Russian Diamond Rose Brooch, (right)
It bears more than a passing resemblance to two diamond brooches we have already covered - The Russian Diamond Rose Brooch and Mathilde Bonaparte's Tudor Rose Brooch, both of which were created during 1850s (in case of the Russian brooch, I obviously mean the original and not the copy).

I absolutely love this jewel. The craftsmanship is superb, its versatile and just looks very beautiful!

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