An Important Diamond Pendant Cross, Mid 19th Century

The Important Diamond cross offered for sale is part of a parure comprising a necklace and pair of ear pendants, formerly in the Marchesi Gropallo Rocca Saporiti collection.

Marcello Saporiti, one of Napoleon Bonaparte’s Generals, acquired in 1803 “La Sforzesca”, a historical estate just outside Milan, Italy. The property was much loved by Duca Lodovico Sforza, known as “Il Moro” who built it in 1486 as a present to his wife Anna Beatrice d’Este. After Anna ’s death,  “La Sforzesca” was gifted to the Domenicans Fathers of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan, who retained the property for three centuries until the ban on the Church’s assets brought about by the Napoleonic Cisalpine Republic in 1798.

Marcello Saporiti did not have children. The family continued with his niece Maria Rocca Saporiti, who married Marchese  Marcello Gropallo (1840-1898). They had 6 children, the youngest child was Ippolito Gropallo (1875-1937) whose wife Marchesa Adele Gropallo (1885-1965) is portrayed  in the photograph (above/below)  wearing the cross suspended from the original diamond rivière.