Today marked the 40th Anniversary of the Birth of Grand Duchess Charlotte of Luxembourg, who passed away on this day in 1985! The Sovereign of the world’s only Grand Duchy during one of its most tumultuous periods, Grand Duchess Charlotte possessed a magnificent jewellery collection, which included the Nassau Diamond Rose Brooches!
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A set of three magnificent Diamond Rose Brooches made in 1859 by the jeweller Jacob Speltz of Frankfurt, made using heirloom diamonds belonging to the House of Nassau-Weilburg, which were a part of a garland of flowers and ivy leaves, which is now the Luxembourg Vine Leaves Tiara.
This piece is one of a set of three old-cut diamond brooches dating from the mid-nineteenth century. Each brooch was de. signed as a cascade of wild roses. the fully opened flowers. buds and leaves decorated with paved diamonds on a mount of silver on gold. The brooch presented here is the largest of the three. According to the inventory of 1859, the bouquet originally contained 595 brilliants. The back of all three bouquets have square, partially numbered tenons, which seemed to have allowed them to be mounted onto a structure, almost certainly a tiara. The lower part has hooks that must originally have held ivy-leaf pendants. The inventory of 1850 does not detail the different possible combinations. It mentions only the association of rose bouquet no. 3 with a garland of two sprays of flowers and ivy leaves mounted en tremblant. These bouquets could probably be combined into one or several larger pieces. The two sprays, without the roses, are now combined in a fixed tiara.
The three brooches were made in 1859 by the jeweller Jacob Speltz of Frankfurt, reusing diamonds belonging to the House of Nassau-Weilburg, and make their first appearance in the inventory of 1859. which also includes a design for larger bouquets with buds on either side of the open flower. This bouquet is shown with ivy-leaf pendants and described in position v. The ‘Sechs Gehänge’ comprises 18 solitaires, 233 small brilliants in a double ivy leaf and 18 single ivy leaves, and 78 small brilliants in the six upper eyelets and at the lower six ends. Today these elements no longer exist. The bouquets were altered in 1896, at the instigation of Grand Duchess Adelaide Marie (1833-1916), born Princess of Anhalt-Dessau, second wife of Grand Duke Adolf. The jeweller Koch of Frankfurt took out 12 large diamonds to include them in a new rivière with stones from the pendants. He replaced them in the bouquets with yokes comprising a total of 97 small diamonds, probably taken from the ivy leaves of the pendants. There is a distinct difference of technique between the piece as a whole and the centre of the buds, replaced in 1896. While the original piece has an open mount. the centres are set in boxes closed at the back. The boxes were then soldered into the cavities left when the large diamonds were removed. These brooches are splendid examples of the fashion for the naturalistic style and also recall the large corsage rose of Princess Mathilde, which was made in the same period.
The brooches are kept in their original cases of dark blue velvet, with the monogram c surmounted by a crown. The same monogram can be seen on the cases of the large tiara and of the two bracelets, which date from 1812. The cover of the inventory of 1859 has the same design. As the inventories of the “Hausschmuck’ (family jewels) were kept in the Chatoulle’ (safe), it is highly likely that the monogram c stands for Cha-toulle’, signifying that these pieces belong to House of Nassau-Weilburg trust. The ‘Hausschmuck’, or jewellery of the Nassau-Weilburg family, was established in 1766 at the instigation of Prince Karl-Christian (1735-1788) and his wife Carolina of Or-ange-Nassau-Dietz (1743-1787). They used part of their jew-ellery to establish a collection to be held in trust and bequeathed from one head of the family to the next, as stipulated in the family ‘Erbvertrag or contract. The trust jewellery can be transformed to suit the tastes of the day but, unlike personal jewellery, can never be sold or given away. All the women’s jew-ellery belonging to the house of Nassau was thus taken apart in 1812 to create new pieces, almost certainly in preparation for the wedding of Crown Prince Wilhelm of Nassau (1792-1839)
Grand Duchess Charlotte notably wore one of the Diamond Rose Brooches with the Luxembourg Empire Tiara for one of her first Official Portraits after her return to Luxembourg from exile during the Second World War.
One of the Nassau Diamond Rose Brooches was also worn by Princess Elisabeth of Luxembourg for a family portrait taken in the early 1950s.
Grand Duchess Joséphine Charlotte most notably wore one of the Diamond Rose Brooches with the Luxembourg Empire Tiara for one of her first Official Portraits.
Grand Duchess Maria Teresa wore one of the Nassau Diamond Rose Brooches when she debuted the Empire Tiara on a State Visit to The Netherlands in 2006.
A Diamond Rose Brooch was also worn by Grand Duchess Maria Teresa with the Diamond Floral Tiara for a National Day Gala at some point in the late 2000s.
One of the Diamond Rose Brooches was worn by Hereditary Grand Duchess Stéphanie with Grand Duchess Adélaïde Tiara for the National Day Gala at the Grand Ducal Palace in Luxembourg in 2015.
Hereditary Grand Duchess Stéphanie also wore one of the Nassau Diamond Rose Brooches with the Diamond Floral Tiara for the Luxembourg National Day Gala in 2019.
Grand Duchess Maria Teresa wore two of the Diamond Rose Brooches with the Belgian Scroll Tiara for the Luxembourg State Visit to Portugal in 2022.
More recently, one of the Nassau Diamond Rose Brooches were worn by Grand Duchess Maria Teresa with the Belgian Scroll Tiara and the Aquamarine Parure for the Luxembourg State Visit to Belgium last year and there is no doubt the Rose Brooches will be worn for years to come
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