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RUSSIAN SCHOOL, 19TH CENTURY
Ring with a miniature of Maria Feodorovna (1759-1828), Empress of Russia
c. 1800RCIN 9017
Gold ring chased with incised foliage, with diamond bezel and miniature of a lady, possibly Maria Feodorovna, Empress of Russia: bust-length, wearing a red dress with white lace border, the ribbon and star of the order of St Andrew, an ermine-trimmed robe and a jewelled tiara.
The low forehead and wide-set eyes of the sitter conform with the appearance of Maria Feodorovna (1759 – 1828) as depicted in portraits of her such as those by the court artist Gerhard von Keugelgen c.1800 (State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg). The sitter in this miniature is shown wearing a large tiara; the Empress Maria Feodorovna was the possessor of a renowned tiara, made for her c.1800 and set with a very large 13-carat pink diamond, known as the pink diamond diadem.
Princess Sophia Dorothea of Württemberg, eldest daughter of Frederick II, Duke of Württemberg, married, in 1776, Grand Duke Paul of Russia, only son of Empress Catherine the Great of Russia, and took the name Maria Feodorovna when she converted to Orthodoxy. The Grand Duke Paul succeeded as Emperor Paul I in 1796, but was assassinated five years later. As Dowager Empress she still maintained considerable influence and lived in great state at the palace of Pavlosk. Two of her four sons, Alexander I and Nicholas I, reigned as emperors of Russia; she also gave birth to six daughters.
The low forehead and wide-set eyes of the sitter conform with the appearance of Maria Feodorovna (1759 – 1828) as depicted in portraits of her such as those by the court artist Gerhard von Keugelgen c.1800 (State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg). The sitter in this miniature is shown wearing a large tiara; the Empress Maria Feodorovna was the possessor of a renowned tiara, made for her c.1800 and set with a very large 13-carat pink diamond, known as the pink diamond diadem.
Princess Sophia Dorothea of Württemberg, eldest daughter of Frederick II, Duke of Württemberg, married, in 1776, Grand Duke Paul of Russia, only son of Empress Catherine the Great of Russia, and took the name Maria Feodorovna when she converted to Orthodoxy. The Grand Duke Paul succeeded as Emperor Paul I in 1796, but was assassinated five years later. As Dowager Empress she still maintained considerable influence and lived in great state at the palace of Pavlosk. Two of her four sons, Alexander I and Nicholas I, reigned as emperors of Russia; she also gave birth to six daughters.
