Sotheby’s, gearing up for its April 7 Magnificent Jewels and Jadeite Spring Sale in Hong Kong, has unveiled its star lot: the Hutton-Mdivani Necklace.
Named for Barbara Woolworth Hutton (heiress to the retail tycoon Frank Winfield Woolworth) and the first of her seven husbands (the self-styled Georgian prince Alexis Mdivani), the green necklace comprises 27 gigantic jadeite beads — with diameters ranging from 19.2 mm to 15.4 mm — of magnificent color, excellent translucency, and extremely fine texture, said Sotheby's.
The necklace, given the size and quality of its jadeite, suggests an origin in the Qing Dynasty in the 18th century, when Imperial court necklaces in particular were worn by Qing emperors and senior officials. The Hutton-Mdivani necklace made its way to Europe, along with many other Imperial treasures in the late 19th century, ending up in the hands of Cartier, which in 1933 designed a special clasp for the Hutton family to complement the beads. The necklace was then presented as a wedding gift in the same year to Barbara Hutton from her father on the occasion of her marriage to Prince Mdivani.
Hutton was one of the wealthiest women in the world by the time of her 21st birthday, and known for her distinguished taste, lavish lifestyle, elegance and beauty. Her enviable jewelry collection encompassed unique commissioned pieces by the most celebrated jewelers, as well as important royal and noble jewels, among them a pearl necklace formerly belonging to Marie Antoinette, Queen of France.
This jadeite bead necklace, in particular, has a storied past that “is an epitome of the mysterious and captivating beauty of jadeite, the most revered oriental gemstone, and evokes the glamour of distinguished style icons of both China and the West at the turn of the last century,” said Quek Chin Yeow, deputy chairman and head of Sotheby’s Asia’s jewelry department, in a statement.
The Hutton-Mdivani Necklace will be showcased in traveling exhibitions in Shanghai (March 5-6), Beijing (March 8-9), Taipei (March 22-23) and Kaohsiung (March 25-26) — as well as in public exhibition of all properties on offer at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre from April 3-6.
