An imperial parure: the Louvre has achieved a remarkable coup by purchasing—for the highest price ever paid by a museum for items of jewellery—the necklace and earrings which formed part of the emerald parure commissioned by Napoleon for the Empress Marie Louise in 1810. Diana Scarisbrick explains their significance

Apollo, Sept, 2004 by Diana Scarisbrick

(1) Humphrey Butler negotiated The sale of the tiara of the Duchesse d Algouleme to the Louvre in 2002. S.J. Phillips have made historic jewels and objects d'art a speciality over the past 150 years. Thomas Faerber is an expert on stones.

(2) S. Grandjean 'Jewellery Under the First Empire', The Connoisseur, vol. XCIII, December 1976, p. 275.

(3) D.Scarlsbrick and R. Hurel, Two Centuries of Fine Jewellery, exh. cat., Musee Carnavalet, Paris, 1998. fig. 1, p. 22: miniature of Francois Regnault Nitot in the uniform of an officer in the CisAlpine Army, 1797.

(4) B. Morel, The French Crown Jewels, Paris, 1988, pp. 233-43, 246.

(5) Inventaire des Diamans dela Couronne, Paris, 1791. part I, pp. 191-99, and part 2, p. 290.

(6) Morel, op. cit., p,. 202. The jewels, which were delivered at the end of March 1810 were valued at 289.868 francs, except for the belt plaque, delivered on 18 August 1811, p. 291.

(7) Copy of the will, in the archives at Hillwood, Washington De, courtesy of Anne Odom.

(8) Copy of the affidavit, in the archives at Hillwood, Washington, DC., courtesy of Anne Odom.

(9) D. Scarlsbrick. Tiara, exh. cat., Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 2800, p. 53.

(10) P. Verlet (ed.), Dix Siecles de Joaullerie Fracaise, exh. cat., Musee du Louvre, Paris, p. 87, No. 95.

(11) M. Jebb (ed.), Thu Diaries of Cynthia Gladwyn, London, 1995, p. 211.

Diana Scarisbrick is curating the exhibition 'Empiric Jewellery: Love and Glory', at Chaumet (12, Place Vendome, Paris), 21 September-2 December 2004.