Queen Desideria’s Malachite Parure

Thursday, March 7, 2013

Credit for information and pictures: Trond Noren Isaksen (I strongly recommend visiting his excellent blog), 

Nordic Museum, and RJWMB.

Swedish Royal Jewels: Queen Desideria’s Malachite Parure

Time to cover one of the most under-appreciated parures of all times - 

Queen Desideria’s Malachite Parure.

The malachite parure consists of a tiara, necklace, brooch, two bracelets,
and a pair of earrings, all set with carved malachite. The cameos carved
on the stones represent classical scenes. For instance, the cameos in the
necklace depict Asclepius (god of medicine) and Hygeia (his daughter,
goddess of health), Hercules (the Ancient Greek hero) and Hebe (daughter
of Zeus and Hera who becomes Hercules’s wife). The central cameo of
the tiara symbolises day, while the central stone of the brooch depicts the
night, and so on.

The centrepiece of the tiara is undoubtedly the tiara; it bears the mark “SP”,
which suggests it was created by the famous Parisian jewellery Simon Petiteau,
probably in 1820s or 1830s. The necklace is 44.5 cm long and consists of eight
 malachite cameos, all set in gold frame, with delicate floral motifs in-between. 

Desiree Clary (left), Josephine of Leuchtenberg (middle) and Sofia of Nassau (right) - the three owners of the parure

The two bracelets are identical bar for the carvings on the cameos. Each
consists of four thick gold threads with two oval malachite stones (without
carvings) at either end. A further malachite (with carvings) cameo serves as
a clasp. The brooch consists of a large cameo in gold frame with an almost
identical but much smaller cameo directly above it. From the larger stone three
pear-shaped malachite pendant drops hung. The earrings consist of a small
cameo from which a larger cameo is suspended; one of them is damaged and
only the smaller cameo remains. 

The parure originally belonged to Queen Desideria of Sweden and Norway
(Desiree Clary). Although the Queen isn’t known to have ever worn it, we
know it was in her possession thanks to a detailed inventory of her jewellery,
which includes a description of the parure. 

The Malachite Parure in its original jewellery case

Following her death, the parure came into the possession of Josephine of
Leuchtenberg, the wife of Desideria’s only son, Oscar I of Sweden. The
next mention of the parure can be found in the jewellery inventory of Sofia
of Nassau, the wife of Oscar II of Sweden. 

After Sofia’s death in 1913, her heirs decided to donate the set to the Nordic
Museum, presumably because no one wanted such a dated piece. Incidentally,
Queen Sofia also had another unusual parure made of gold and lave which is
now (as far as we know) in the possession of her great-great-granddaughter,
Desiree of Rosenborg (daughter of Count Flemming of Rosenborg, himself
son of Princess Margaretha of Sweden, daughter of Prince Carl, Duke of
Vastergotland, son of Sofia of Nassau). 

Empress Josephine's similar malachite parure

There is a very similar parure of malachite and pearls that originated in France
as well and belonged to Empress Josephine; that set consists of a tiara, a
necklace, two bracelets, a pair of earrings, a brooch and six hairpins – all
but two hairpins set with cameos of carved malachite. That parure is now
in the possession of the Napoleon Foundation. 

I honestly can’t understand how anyone could give away this magnificent
 parure. I mean, it’s a work of art! In a way, it reminds me of the famous
Swedish Cameo Tiara and I'm fairly certain someone like Silvia or Victoria
would have looked splendid in it. 

Empress Josephine of France

And just a note: if you find yourself in Stockholm before May of this year,
you have a chance to visit the exhibition in Nordic Museum and view this
parure (and many other jewels) live.