Over the weekend, I visited Haughton‘s International Fine Art & Antique Dealers Show at the Park Avenue Amory in New York. Among the opulent and rare antiques were a handful of the finest estate jewelry dealers from the U.S. and United Kingdom, including A La Vieille Russie (US), Hancocks (UK), James Robinson (US), Kentshire (US), Sandra Cronan (UK), and Wartski (UK).
To help navigate the show’s rare goods, the American Society of Jewelry Historians (ASJH) organized a series of tours, led by jewelry expert and historian extraordinaire Clive Kandel, to highlight the fine jewels dispersed throughout the show.
The first stop of the tour was Hancocks of London, dealers in rare and collectable jewels. Founded in 1849 as master silversmiths, Hancocks soon was recognized for its marvelous jewels and fine metalwork. Alongside the important Art Nouveau and Art Deco pieces by the likes of Fouquet, Lalique and Cartier, a dazzling Harry Winston wreath necklace shined like a beacon from its case.
Clive Kandel holds up the magnificent Holly Wreath Diamond Necklace by Harry Winston at Hancocks
Known for fabulous large diamonds, Harry Winston ingeniously developed a clever way to make them appear to float on the neck by hiring the Indian jewelry designer Ambaji Shinde. Shinde “treated gems as if they were threads of silk fabric,” Kandel revealed, which helped make the ever-increasing sized diamonds to be seen from a distance.
Photo courtesy of Hancocks
Kandel recalled the important commission of remounting and design for the Iranian Crown Jewels:
“The world’s most stunning gems were reset into floating beacons of fire that rested upon the head and neck of the Empress of Iran. The 1962 Harry Winston Holly Wreath necklace, set with 152 carats of diamonds will hopefully take your imagination back to the Imperial Court of Teheran and Diamonds are a Girls Best Friend over half a century ago.”
Bewildered by the dazzling diamonds, the tour carried on to the fine and rare watches of our next stop, Somlo Antiques.
Photo courtesy of 1stdibs
Kandel directed our attention to the tall case housing a bevy of Cartier timepieces that spanned almost a century. From diamond encrust Art Deco designs to complex pocket watches, the spread of Cartier was impressive.
The rare Cartier watches at Somlo Antiques booth
“Cartier Paris, London and New York gave perhaps one third of it’s floor space to their watch departments,” Kandel informed us. ”Designers, watch casemakers, dial painters, jewelers, brilliant watch movement makers produced an astonishing amount of individual watches from plain gold timepieces to complicated latest invention fantasy watches that appealed to exotic buyers like the Maharajahs and Egyptian royalty, who would wear many at once.”
Here are some classic Cartier watches from the early 1920′s in onyx and diamonds.
The Art Deco diamond and onyx watches by Cartier at Somlo Antiques
Moving along, we slowly flocked to the fifth generation antique silver and jewelry dealer James Robinson.
Photo courtesy of 1stdibs
Kandel instructed us to imagine ourselves as the quick-tongued “Dowager Countess of Grantham from Downton Abbey visiting her jewelers and silversmiths in Regent Street, London around 1920.” Rather than singular neck busts and earring displays, the grand jewelry emporiums such as Tiffany & Co. and Garrards, the Crown Jewelers, would display in their cases “grand sweeps and carpets of jewelry spread out like a banquet before you and silver displayed in tall cabinets, shelf after shelf,” Kandel reminisced.
A banquet of jewels at James Robinson
After highlighting a charming George III silver bowl with a somewhat scandalous history and a stunning carved nephrite, rose and white agate gold diamond flower pin made by Paltscho of Vienna, the tour continued on to the illustrious Fabergé dealer A La Vieille Russie, located at one of New York’s most prestigious corners at Fifth Ave and 59th Street.
Photo courtesy of 1stdibs
Founded in 1851 in Kiev, at the time Russia, the firm remains in the hands of the founding family, the Schaeffers, specializing in works of art by Fabergé and other rare jewels. Of all the magnificent Fabergé pieces and antique jewels, two were particularly noteworthy. One was a magnificent large fan by Fabergé, the elegant enamel mount made by work-master Michael Perchin; and, the fine lace and mother-of-pearl fan most likely supplied by Duvelleroy of Paris, renowned as the world’s finest fan makers. Kandel elaborated that “the lace is of the rarest and finest type of Brussels make, taking many years to complete and usually made by nuns and the women of Bruges; the fan is enameled gold inlaid with diamonds in the Louis XVI style.”
Detail of the Faberge fan mount
Photo courtesy of A La Vielle Russie
The second item of note was another work of art by Fabergé: an ornately carved gold column bearing a diamond set portrait of Tsar Nicholas II, the last Tsar of Imperial Russia. ”Presented to the German Emperor’s Court chamberlain, Count Eulenburg, in 1910, it was a gift meant of the highest regard,” Kandel asserted.
A similar column bearing the portrait of Tsar Nicholas II – Imperial Column Portrait Frame, 1908.
From the Imperial Russian courts of A La Vieille Russie, we flashed forward to the swinging ’60s and the revolutionary jewelry of Andrew Grima. ”It was a day when jewelry designers were striving to introduce a new style that did not beckon to those of the past such as flowers and geometric shapes,” Kandel remembered, who knew and was a client of Grima’s. “In striving to be different, some jewelers were happy to just throw gold into a pot and see what would happen.”
A few of the jewels by Andrew Grima
A favorite jeweler of the famous and fashionable avant garde, Grima also counted British nobility, including the Queen and other royals, among his clients. One notable piece, a Brazilian tourmaline and diamond ring, is a great example of Grima from the 60′s. Named the Hepworth Ring, it was made for Britain’s most famous Modernist sculptor, Dame Barabara Hepworth.
THE HEPWORTH RING, 1970
A Brazilian Tourmaline weighing 47 Carats set in Yellow Gold and Diamonds
The Ring was designed by Andrew Grima specifically for sculptress Dame Barbara Hepworth in 1970
Photo courtesy of Grima
After admiring the exquisite and innovative gold workmanship of Grima, we meandered our way through fine silver and furniture to the glittering jewels of Sandra Cronan.
Photo courtesy of No.1 Mayfair
Front and center, in its very own case, was the highlight of this stop: a glorious necklace made by Boucheron in 1883. Stylized as a peacock feather of diamond, emerald and sapphire plumes, which was an ancient symbol of immortality, the necklace is shaped like a question mark, “a style,” Kandel remarked, “that has recently been revived by Van Cleef & Arpels and others.”
Boucheron Peacock Feather Necklace
Photo courtesy of Sandra Cronan
This beautiful necklace of such delicacy was purchased by none other than the Russian Grand Duke Alexis, who not only was held responsible for Russia’s defeat at the hands of the Imperial Japanese Navy but for also having too many mistresses and spending too much money. ”Eventually,” Kandel summarized, “the Tsar banned him from Court and the Grand Duke, moving to France, married his mistress Zina, the Duchess of Leuchtenburg, to whom I presume this was given.”
Henri Picq Set
Photo courtesy of Sandra Cronan
Another set of jewels at Sandra Cronan worth mentioning was a matching pair of Tutti Frutti clips and bracelet, signed by Henri Picq. While Cartier could not find the record for this bracelet and pair of clips, there is no doubt that it was made by the same hands from whose workshop manufactured the firm’s other famed Tutti Frutti jewels. Henri Picq, whose signature is typically found alongside Cartier’s on Tutti Frutti pieces, was one of the most important in Paris in the first quarter of the 20th century. This exquisite pieces are a testament to his brilliance in creating Cartier’s iconic, yet varying, Tutti Frutti jewels.
The last stop on our tour brought us to Wartski, the London-based, family-owned firm of antique dealers specializing in antique jewelry, works of art by Carl Fabergé and objets de vertu. ”Wartski may be called the jeweler of royalty,” Kandel assured us. ”Since being the supplier of Fabergé to Britain’s Royal family before World War II to recently making the gold wedding band given by Prince William to Catherine Middleton.”
Of all the extraordinary jewels on display at Wartski, ranging from excellent pieces by Castellani to a beautiful bracelet by Paul Flato, Kandel selected two jewels to highlight as the tour came to a close. The first piece, a black velvet and diamond choker made by Cartier Paris in 1900 “brings us back to what I was saying earlier about the Louis XVI style that was popular at the turn of the 20th century. Cartier introduced black velvet and moire silk ribbons, a throwback to an early 18th century use of tying up necklaces with fabric, to diamond set dog collars, long pendants and fob pendant and wristwatches.”
An antique diamond & platinum mounted velvet choker by Cartier, Paris. Circa, 1900.
Photo courtesy of Wartski
Known today as the Cartier Garland style, “the Edwardians were obsessed with this fashion,” Kandel continued. “King Edward VII, coming to the throne in 1901, tore apart most of Buckingham Palace and turned it into what I call Ritz Hotel decor. Everything was Louis XVI: a white background embellished with gold baskets, love trophies and garlands.”
A colored gold mounted and enamelled table clock by Carl Fabergé at Wartski
The second item Kandel brought to our attention was a colored gold mounted and enameled table clock by Carl Fabergé. The clock was acquired from Fabergé’s London branch at 49 Dover Street on December 22nd, 1908 for £52.50 by Stanislaw Poklewski-Koziell, the first secretary of the Russian Embassy in London. A friend of King Edward VII, he was a gregarious and rich bachelor who lived on Clarges Street, four streets along Piccadilly from Fabergé’s Dover Street shop.
Photo courtesy of Wartski
Alluding to the probable fate of this table clock, Kandel asked us to again “imagine the days of wealthy houseguests staying at Downtown Abbey arriving with gifts. Back then, the severely wealthy would shower valuables from Fabergé and Cartier on ladies as a way to buy favor. In fact, they were called ‘party favors’. Today, that has a very different meaning.” It may be likely that Poklewski-Koziell, using his immense wealth and charm, gifted this exquisite clock to a female guest at one of his many parties.
An hour after we started the tour, we found ourselves right back at the entrance, where we had started, but now our minds brimming with interesting facts of the jeweled sights to remember for years to come. Between the magnificent jewels and rare antiques, this well-tailored show is one I will certainly look forward to next year.
A special thank you to Clive Kandel and the American Society of Jewelry Historians for hosting such a wonderfully informative tour!
A congratulations to Haughton International Fairs for a successful start to its 25th International Fine Art & Antique Dealers Show in New York. The show is still open to the public through October 31st, 2013.