Two tiaras of Empress Josefina Bonaparte are put on sale

(CNN) – Two tiaras believed to have belonged to Josephine Bonaparte, the first wife of the French emperor Napoleon, will go on sale after a century and a half in private hands.

Together, they are expected to fetch up to £ 500,000 ($ 682,000) at Sotheby’s auction house in London next month.

One of the tiaras is gold with blue enamel details and red carnelian engravings with classic portraits. The tiara is offered as part of a jewelry set, with matching earrings, a belt clip, and a comb.

The second gold and enamel tiara features cameo portraits of ancient Greek deities Zeus, Dionysus, Medusa, Pan, and Gaea in agate and jasper. The Victoria & Albert Museum in London, which previously had the piece on loan, noted that it was “probably a gift from Napoleon’s sister, Caroline Murat.”

Two tiaras believed to have been the property of Empress Josefina Bonaparte will go up for auction in December. Credit: Sotheby’s

The Empress, also known as Josephine de Beauharnais from her first marriage to the nobleman and army general Alexandre de Beauharnais, has been the subject of continuous fascination in recent decades. The love letters that Napoleon sent her are famous for their passion, and she has been depicted as a clever seductress who eventually gave up her marriage when she and the emperor were unable to produce an heir together.

Both tiaras are part of parures, or sets of 19th century jewelry, emblematic of neoclassical design that flourished during Napoleon’s reign. Following the riots of the French Revolution, the emperor judiciously evoked ancient Roman traditions, styles and designs to associate his rule with an ancient lineage, according to Sotheby’s.

This association is present in the smallest details of both tiaras, that is, the cameo portraits and intaglio-style engravings of classical deities and ancient figures that Napoleon and Josephine often wore, even on the coronation crown of the former. Centuries earlier, Roman emperors had worn similar symbols of power carved into semi-precious gems.

Josefina Bonaparte has been the object of fascination in books and exhibitions this century. Credit: Sotheby’s

“Empress Josephine was much more than just an antique collector,” Kristian Spofforth, who heads Sotheby’s London jewelry department, said in a press release. “By being the first to incorporate these cameos and intaglios into her dress, wearing them alongside pearls and diamonds, she created a whole new fashion that swept Paris and the world, based on neoclassical forms.”

Despite her position as empress as a creator of styles, Josefina came from a precarious background as the eldest daughter of an aristocratic French family that had built and lost its wealth of sugar cane in the colony of Martinique. She married de Beauharnais as a teenager, although they separated after two children and an unhappy marriage in Paris. Her husband was later guillotined during the Revolution. Although she was also imprisoned, Josefina escaped the same fate and rose up the social ladder before meeting the young army officer who would eventually make her empress.

One of the tiaras is offered together with matching earrings, a belt and a comb. Credit: Sotheby’s

The jewelry industry suffered as a result of the political turmoil, economic depression, and hostility to luxury that marked the French Revolution and its aftermath. But instead of promoting a more ascetic style than that of the ill-fated Marie Antoinette, Josefina also tended to lavishness. Sotheby’s noted in a press release that, in a period of just six years, the empress “spent an impressive sum of more than 25 million francs on jewelry and clothing, far exceeding her budget.”

As Spofforth pointed out, the jewels were often disassembled and remodeled according to changing tastes, making the survival of the two parures “truly exceptional.” The tiaras, along with accompanying jewelry, will be on display at Geneva’s Mandarin Oriental prior to sale.