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| Las joyas de procedencia imperial. Foto (c) Sotheby's. |
El 10 de noviembre, un broche y un par de pendientes que pertenecieron a la gran duquesa María Pavlovna de Rusia se subastarán en Sotheby's en Ginebra. Nacida como duquesa María de Mecklenberg-Schwerin, María se casó con el gran duque Vladimir Alexandrovich de Rusia, hijo del emperador Alejandro II de Rusia. Se estima que las joyas se venderán por entre 300.000 y 520.000 dólares. Dada su historia, no sería sorprendente que se vendieran por mucho más.
Sotheby's ofrece la siguiente descripción de este fascinante lote:
De una familia principesca europea, anteriormente de una familia imperial europea
Broche de zafiro y diamantes de importancia histórica y un par de clips para las orejas
Hacia 1900
Incluye: un broche con diseño de placa, engastado en el centro con un zafiro ovalado que pesa 26,80 quilates, el borde engastado con diamantes en forma de cojín y rosas, marcas del fabricante para Sophia Schwan, probablemente para Bolin, San Petersburgo, 1899-1908 y marcas de ensayo rusas, el par de clips para las orejas en suite, engastados con zafiros de talla escalonada que pesan 6,69 y 9,36 quilates respectivamente, dentro de un borde de diamantes de talla rosa y en forma de cojín, a una caja posterior ajustada por Cartier estampada con la corona de la Casa Real de Grecia, Rey de los Helenos.
La casa de subastas también señala que este conjunto de broche y pendientes perteneció en un principio a la Gran Duquesa María Pavlovna de Rusia, quien luego se los legó a su única hija, la Gran Duquesa Elena Vladimirovna (Princesa Nicolás de Grecia). La entrada del catálogo de este lote ofrece más información sobre cómo se recuperaron de Rusia estas joyas con herencia imperial rusa después de la Revolución:
UNA HERENCIA ROMANOV
De la colección de Su Alteza Real la Gran Duquesa María Pavlovna
Two shabby Gladstone bags were chosen by Albert Stopford to secretly collect Maria Pavlovna’s jewels from the closed but as yet unpillaged Vladimir Palace in St Petersburg. The jewels were stored in a safe in her Moorish style suite of rooms. Access was obtained with the cooperation of Maria Pavlovna’s eldest son Boris [author’s note: Kirill was Maria’s eldest son] and trusted servant who let in Stopford, dressed in workman clothes, through a side door. He carefully dismantled the jewels, folding the pieces into old newspaper to protect them. In the safe was also money which Stopford changed into new Revolutionary notes andd the on 30th July set out for a train journey of three nights to Kislovodsk in Caucasus where Maria Pavlovna had a house. In his diary he records his arrival: “KISLOVODSK. The grand Duchess received me in her cabinet de travail and we counted the money which I had bought her in my boots form Petrograd. It was in revolutionary thousand rouble notes, which she had never seen before.” This was the last visit he made to see her before setting out for London with her jewels though he did receive a letter form her telling him “ that the night before – September 13-14 – the the Committee of Workmen and Soldiers came to the house at 2.30 am and stayed until 6, opening, searching and turning everything topsy-turvy”. The pressure was ever increasing. This dramatic story is graphically retold in William Clarke’s recent book “Hidden Treasures of the Romanovs, saving the Royal jewels”.
Albert Henry Stopford, who was at the time, aged fifty five and so not eligible for war service, was very much part of the social scene in St Petersburg (then called Petrograd). He was a witness from the Revolution from July 1915 to October 1917 and published his diary and letters anonymously in 1919. From these it is clear that he was on very familiar terms with Grand Duchess Vladimir, seeing her almost every day when both in Petrograd. He was also in constant touch with the British Ambassador and the embassy staff passing back information and acting as a semi official courier on his journeys between Petrograd and London.
Grand Duchess Vladimir must have trusted him implicitly to put her extraordinary collection of jewels into his care. He had an advantage because on his journeys to and from England as the English Foreign Office and the War Office as well as the French and the Russian Embassies, used him to carry confidential papers which they feared might be in intercepted in the mail. Trustworthy travelers were a rarity so they took advantage of his travel for direct communication. It these circumstances he was effectively carrying their Diplomatic bags as he said “as a matter of courtesy and not in an official capacity”. He made full use of this privileged position and in those years he made four visits to England which he recalls in his diary. For instance on 22nd October 1916 he had “No bother with customs”. On another occasion the border officials wanted to examine his bags but he insisted he was carrying official papers and eventually they climbed down, no search was made and he was allowed to proceed on his journey.
During the war the safest way from Petrograd to England or France was by train first north through Finland, which at that time was in Russian hands, and so into Sweden and then on to either Bergen or Arendal in Norway. As German U-boats patrolled the North Sea and the coastal water were mined, the voyage from southern Sweden to Newcastle or Scotland was chosen as the shortest and safest journey for the steamer. The reality of these dangers is recalled in Stopford’s diary of 14th January 1916 “Not too bad a crossing. As we neared Arendal, in Norway we nearly ran into a mine. The sudden veering of the steamer threw us all off our seats. All along the south coast of Norway, where there are many currents, loose mines are constantly being washed up.” Later the same year on the way back from Petrograd he recalls in his diary for Thursday August 10th 1916 in rather telegraphic style, “before leaving the fjords for the open sea, was sent for by the captain. He expected the steamer to be stopped by German submarines, and said the F.O. bags ought to be weighted. The ships carpenter put iron into the coulisses of the bags and deposited them on the deck handy to be thrown overboard. Ship stopped suddenly in the night. Rushed on deck and found only a sea-frog. Arrived at Newcastle-on-Typne.”
Stopford left Petrograd on 26th September 1917 carrying Maria Pavlovna’s fabulous collection of jewels including the sensational sapphire brooch and earrings in this sale to embark on what must have been a very anxious ten day journey. Behind him the Provisional Government of Alexander Kerensky tottering and ahead lay the prospect of the hazardous journey across the North Sea which by this stage in the war was heavily mined. As it turned out he was able to follow his usual route via Finland and Sweden without encountering any difficulties, finally arriving safely by boat at Aberdeen on 6th October and professed himself “delighted to see policemen again”.
Meanwhile in the Caucasus the situation became so bad that Maria Pavlovna put her affairs in order and made arrangements for the cigarette boxes and cufflinks in the Vladimir Palace to be taken to Swedish Legation in Petrograd (these quite remarkably have only recently been discovered, safe and sound, in the Swedish Foreign Office in Stockholm and are now to be sold at Sotheby’s in London on 30thNovember 2009). She also made her own plans to leave Russia. The only route open to her was to make her way from Caucasus to the White Russian stronghold at the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk, a journey of 800 kilometers through a war-torn country. Despite the deteriorating situation and the fact that it was late autumn it is reported that she set off in style for the fifty mile journey to the nearest railway situation in an open carriage with her maid of honor at her side.
The next first hand report of Grand Duchess Vladimir’s escape from Russia is by her niece Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna who also left her departure to the last minute. She was already at the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk which at the time was the principle center of Denekin’s White Army and waiting for a passage when she heard at her Aunt Michen, the formidable Grand Duchess Vladimir, had arrived after a harrowing escape from Caucasus. She is quoted in her biography as recalling “I went to see her. I was duchess. There had never been much love between Aunt Michen and my own family, but I felt proud of her. Disregarding peril and hardship, the stubbornly had kept all the trimmings of bygone splendor and glory. And somehow carried it off. When even generals found themselves lucky to find a horse-cart and an old nag to bring them into safety, Aunt Michen made a long journey in her own train. It was battered all right – but it was hers. For the first time in my life I found it was a pleasure to kiss her”.
Even though the situation was very dangerous and time short it is said that the Grand Duchess, acting very much in character, is said to have refused passage on a ship which required a change ta Istanbul as she could have had to submit to the ignominy of being deloused. Instead, she obtained a later passage in February 1920 and within a month of her departure Novorossiysk fell to the Bolsheviks. Her passage was on an Italian vessel and it is recorded at once again “the good Stopford received us in Venice with money to pay for our passage”. From there she went to Switzerland and then to Paris.
A su regreso a Inglaterra, Albert Stopford depositó las joyas en una caja de seguridad en un banco de Londres, donde permanecieron durante más de dos años, momento en el que María Pavlovna ya había llegado a Europa. Después hablaron sobre quién podría ofrecerle el mejor asesoramiento profesional. Cartier, en París, parecía ser la mejor opción, ya que muchas de las joyas procedían de ellos y se habían ofrecido a no cobrar nada por la valoración. A mediados de junio de 1920, Stopford recibió la que probablemente fue su última carta de “su Gran Duquesa”, en la que le decía que “la oferta era muy tentadora”, pero lamentablemente, en julio su salud se había visto gravemente afectada por la terrible experiencia de los cuatro años anteriores y el 6 de septiembre murió. Su tumba se encuentra en la iglesia ortodoxa rusa de Contrexeville, en el noreste de Francia, que había mandado construir en memoria de su marido en 1909.
La división de las joyas se convirtió, por tanto, en el tema principal de su testamento y fueron puestas en manos de Cartier para su valoración. A partir de entonces, la división no fue nada sencilla.
Como se desprende de la procedencia proporcionada por Sotheby's, estos objetos en particular fueron heredados por la Gran Duquesa Elena Vladimirovna de Rusia, que se casó con el Príncipe Nicolás de Grecia. Nicolás y Elena tuvieron tres hijas: la Princesa Olga (casada con el Príncipe Pablo de Yugoslavia), la Princesa Isabel (casada con el Conde Carl Theodor zu Toerring-Jettenbach) y la Princesa Marina (casada con el Príncipe Jorge, Duque de Kent). Por lo tanto, es posible que estas joyas estén siendo vendidas por uno de los descendientes de Elena. Sin duda, este magnífico broche de zafiro y los pendientes que lo acompañan serán una incorporación histórica a la colección de cualquiera.
Fuente: Broche de zafiro y diamantes de importancia histórica y un par de pendientes, alrededor de 1900
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