Christie’s roundel
Lot 41

A ROYAL ITALIAN PORTRAIT BANGLE

Closed29 April 2009

Price Realised

EUR 20,625

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A ROYAL ITALIAN PORTRAIT BANGLE
The bangle with central oval miniature portrait of Vittorio Emanuele, wearing orders including the Royal Sardinian Order of the Most Sacred Annunciation, the cover set with lines of old-cut diamonds, cushion-cut emeralds and rubies, shoulders with similarly-set V and E initials surmounted by a crown, circa 1860
Depicted is Vittorio Emanuele, King of Italy (1820-1878). He was the son of Carlo Alberto, 7th Prince of Carignano and King of Sardinia (first Sardinian King from the Savoia-Carignano line). Vittorio Emmanuele was King of Sardiana (1849-1861) as Vittorio Emanuele II and became the first King of Italy in 1861. He married firstly his cousin Marie Adelaine of Habsburg-Lorraine in 1842. Among his children were Umberto I, King of Italy. Vittorio Emanuele married morganatically, in 1869, his principal mistress Rosa Vercellana Guerrieri, who had been created Contessa di Mirafiori e Fontanafredda in 1858. Ferdinando Maria Alberto, duca di Genova, married Elisabeth, daughter of King Johann I of Saxony, in 1850. Their daughter Margherita Maria married her cousin King Umberto I of Italy, and their son Tommaso Alberto married Princess Isabella of Bavaria.