Romanov Emeralds | Lexique Cartier

The seven Romanov emeralds originally belonged to Maria Pavlovna, wife of Grand Duke Vladimir, son of Czar Alexander II of Russia. Bought by Cartier in 1920 after the grand Russian lady died, the emeralds were later sold to Barbara Hutton.

In 1920, Pierre and Louis Cartier bought seven magnificent emeralds from one of the sons of Maria Pavlovna, widow of Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich, who herself had recently died. The largest stone weighed 107 carats.

The septet first went to the Rockefeller family, then returned to Cartier Paris, only to be sold to Barbara Hutton, the American Woolworth heiress. In 1936, Hutton asked Cartier London to divide them among a necklace, ring and pair of pendant earrings.

In 1947, Hutton, who had meanwhile become Princess Trubetskoy, returned the emeralds to Cartier once again, asking that the jeweler design an Oriental-style necklace around them. She occasionally wore this item as a tiara, as seen in a series of photographs taken by Cecil Beaton in 1961.