Requests Sunday: Empress Maria Feodorovna's Sapphire Parure

As promised, today I present you the most requested piece ever since I started this blog. Hope you'll enjoy it!

Empress Maria Feodorovna's Sapphire Parure

The Romanovs had one of the most impressive jewellery collections of all times. None of the current Houses, not even the British one, can match the splendour of the Romanov Court. One of the most interesting and, unfortunately, mysterious parures belonged to Empress Maria Feodorovna of Russia, wife of Alexander III and mother of Nicholas II. 

The Empress is depicted wearing this parure (most of it anyway) of the famous portrait by Konstantin Makovsky. The sketch for the portrait was actually drawn at the wedding celebrations of Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna, the daughter of Emperor Alexander II (and thus Maria Feodorovna’s sister-in-law) who married Prince Alfred, the son of Queen Victoria. 

Maria Feodorovna wearing her sapphire parure

British Royal Jewels: Empress Maria Feodorovna's Sapphire Choker

Some of my favourite jewels in the British royal collection have Russian provenance, including this magnificent sapphire choker.

Empress Maria Feodorovna's Sapphire Choker

The choker consists of four strands of pearls (a total of 164 of them) with 20 diamond-encrusted vertical bars between every two or three rows of pearls. Each diamond bar is studded with five brilliants. The large sapphire in the middle is surrounded by two rows of brilliant-cut diamonds. 

Russian Royal Jewels: Maria Feodorovna's Russian Field Diadem

Empress Maria Feodorovna (wife of Paul I, not the other one) commissioned a diadem from the famous Duval Brothers. The Empress wanted something that would remind of the Russian fields, and so the brothers created a diadem of oak and laurel leaves, bordered by sheaves of wheat.

Russian Field Diadem

The Empress was fond of the piece and called it “Mon diademe en epis” (“my diadem of sheaves”). In her will, Maria Feodorovna left this piece, along with several other jewels, to the Diamond Fund. The Diamond Fond is a unique collection of jewellery and gems that dates back to the Russian Crown Treasury instituted by Peter I of Russia in 1719. The collection is currently stored and exhibited in Kremlin.