A Royal Bracelet With The Portrait Of Queen Marie-amélie Of Bourbon-siciles

A Royal bracelet with the portrait of Queen Marie-Amélie
Offered to her grand-niece Amélie de Bourbon, Infanta of Spain

Bracelet made with finely braided hair from Queen Marie-Amélie, centered with an oval gold medallion inlaid with a miniature portrait, unfortunately unsigned, depicting the Queen of the French, wife of King Louis-Philippe, from the portrait of Ary Scheffer from 1857 kept at the Musée Condé de Chantilly (inv. PE 447), of which the Musée de la Vie Romantique has a second unfinished version. It closes with two gold clip clasps flanking the medallion.
Preserved in its original red leather-wrapped box, stamped "HANCOCK / 39. Bruton Street / Jewelers and Silversmiths / To the /
Principal sovereigns / of Europe". On the back two handwritten labels: "Amélie" (by the hand of the Queen) and an inventory number "71".
Circa 1857-1866.
The mount attributed to Maison Hancock, London, without apparent hallmark.
Medallion: H. 4 x W. 3.5 cm.
Gross weight: g.

Provenance
- Souvenir gift from Queen Marie-Amélie (1782-1866) to her grand-niece Princess Amélie de Bourbon, Infanta of Spain (1834-1905).
- Her son Prince Alphonse of Bavaria (1862-1933).
- His wife Princess Louise of Orléans (1869-1952).
- Then by descent to their children Joseph (1902-1990) and Elisabeth of Bavaria (1913-2005).
- Piasa sale, Drouot, June 23, 2000, lot 53 (misidentified).
- European private collection.

Related work
Another copy of this miniature portrait, smaller in size (3 x 2.5 cm), is kept at the Musée Condé, Chantilly, reproduced in the catalog “Les miniatures du Musée Condé à Chantilly”, ed. Samogy, 2007, cat. 133.

History
John Hancock founded his house in 1849, on the corner of Bruton Street and Bond Street. He was the main supplier to Queen Victoria and the European courts.
In exile, Queen Marie-Amélie regularly contacted the Hancock house for her gift orders, and especially to establish an inventory of her jewelry in 1863.
We do not know if this jewel was specially ordered by the Queen to offer it to her grand-niece but whatever the case, this bracelet is par excellence, a jewel of feelings as they were conceived in the romantic era. , as throughout the 19th century, and intended for a loved one; the presence of hair subtly treated, holds a dominating presence there. The extreme sobriety of this bracelet leaves all its place to the quality of execution of the portrait which clearly specifies the details of the Queen's mourning dress, including the daisy brooch very fond of the Queen, in gold and rock crystal, containing in the center the hair of the royal couple, and all around, smaller medallions containing those of his children (private collection).
The presence of the label on the back as well as the found provenance of this bracelet have enabled us to trace its entire history. The first sale of this jewel took place on June 23, 2000, at Piasa in Drouot-Richelieu. We learn there that he left the royal collections of Bavaria; indeed, the catalog of the sale announced under the heading “Souvenirs of the Royal Family of Orléans” (pp. 37-38): “From H.R.H., Madame Princess Alphonse of Bavaria, born Princess Louise of Orléans”. However, the information there remained very imprecise, even erroneous as to lot 53 which interests us: the identity of the portrait of the bracelet was not identified as that of Queen Marie-Amélie but presented as that of "Dona Amelia Filipina Pilar de Bourbon!
To have been part of the collection of Princess Louise of Orléans, sister of the Duke of Vendôme, it could be spontaneously allowed to think that this jewel comes from the case of Marie-Amélie, then transmitted to her son the Duke of Nemours , then by descent, up to his granddaughter, Louise; but the precious handwritten label with the only mention "Amelie", guided us towards another paternity of provenance. Very probably from the hand of Marie-Amélie, who had meticulously attributed all of her jewels and other effects to her relatives (see the Queen's will in the Archives of the Maison de France), this inscription could lead us to two Amélie:
- the first Amélie is her granddaughter, Amélie de Saxe-Cobourg-Gotha (1848-1894), daughter of Princess Clémentine (1817-1907) who married Maximilien-Emmanuel of Bavaria (1849-1893), whose descendants are remained without posterity.
- the second is the Infanta Amélie of Spain (1834-1905), born Princess Amélia Filipina de Bourbon on October 12, 1834 at the Royal Palace in Madrid. Daughter of Infant François-de-Paule, brother of King Ferdinand VII of Spain, and Louise-Charlotte de Bourbon-Siciles, herself daughter of François 1er des Deux-Siciles, full brother of Marie-Amélie de Bourbon-Sicilies; she is therefore the great-niece of the Queen of the French and seems to be the right recipient of the royal present.
We know that Louis-Philippe and Marie-Amélie had offered hospitality to their niece Louise-Charlotte de Bourbon-Siciles and her daughter Amélie following the "quarrels" that Louise-Charlotte had with her sister Marie-Christine, Queen-Regent of Spain, during the minority of her daughter Isabelle II, and that bonds of affection were forged, of which this souvenir bracelet is testimony.
Amélie married Adalbert of Bavaria (1828-1875), and died on August 25, 1905 at Nymphenburg Castle, Royal Palace of the House of Wittelsbach. From this union, 5 children were born, including Prince Alphonse of Bavaria (1862-1933) who married Princess Louise of Orléans on April 15, 1891.
We thus have with certainty the precise transmission of the precious royal gift, from the Infanta Amélie of Spain, Princess of Bavaria, then by descent, to her son Alphonse of Bavaria, who on his death in 1933 left the jewel to his wife Louise who died in turn in 1952, to be then devolved to the two heirs of their union, namely:
- Joseph of Bavaria (1902-1990), without descendants.
- Elisabeth of Bavaria (1913-2005) who married firstly Count Franz Joseph Kagereck (1915-1941), then secondly Ernst Kütner whose descendants.
Princess Louise of Orléans is the daughter of the Duke of Alençon (1844-1910), himself the son of the Duke of Nemours (1814-1896), she is therefore the great-granddaughter of Louis-Philippe and Marie -Amelie. But she is also at the heart of Mitteleuropa, since her mother was Sophie de Wittlesbach, Duchess of Alençon, burned alive in the fire of the Charité bazaar in Paris in 1897. She is thus the niece of the legendary "Sissi", Empress of Austria, and finally the cousin of Ludwig II of Bavaria.