It is offered with a pair of pendant earrings, a hair comb and a belt ornament featuring a cameo of the Roman divinity Bacchus. The first is a gold diadem, figuring a floral ribbon wrapping around a circlet, features 25 carnelians engraved with classical heads circled with blue champlevé enamel. By being the first to incorporate these cameos and intaglios into her dress, wearing them side by side with pearls and diamonds, she created an entire new fashion that swept Paris and the world, based on neoclassical forms,” said Kristian Spofforth, head of Sotheby’s jewels department in London.Įach tiara offered at auction is part of a set.
“Empress Joséphine was much more than just a collector of antiquities. Not only did she make them a pivotal element of her adornments, but she also sought the advice of Dominique-Vivant Denon, a reputed French archeologist best known for his contribution to modern Egyptology who became the Louvre’s first director, to learn about hard stones, engraving techniques and the figures represented on them. Cameos, particularly antique ones, came to be in vogue and the empress is said to have particularly enjoyed them.
