Petochi

Formerly in the collection of Countess Mona Bismarck

The Magnificent Jewels of the late Countess Mona Bismarck, Sotheby’s Geneva, 13 May 1986, lot 22.

Magnificent Jewels, Sotheby's Geneva, 16 November 2010, lot 473.

Property of a Royal Princess

Cf.: Stefano Papi and Alexandra Rhodes, Famous Jewelry Collectors, London, 1999, pg. 137.

Cf.: Stefano Papi and Alexandra Rhodes, 20th Century Jewelry and The Icons of Style, London, 2013, pg. 123.

Mona Bismarck (1897-1983)

Mona Travis Strader was born in Louisville, Kentucky in 1897. She was twice married and divorced before the age of thirty. She married her first husband, the wealthy businessman Henry Schlesinger in 1917. Her second husband was the affluent banker James Irving Bush, said to be the handsomest man in America.

In 1924, she settled in New York and soon met Harrison Williams, twenty-four years her senior, who was one of the richest men in America. They married in 1926. The couple spent their round-the-world honeymoon cruise on Williams’ yacht ‘Warrior’, the largest and most expensive yacht in the world at the time. The couple moved into a neo-Georgian mansion on upper Fifth Avenue in New York and acquired Oak Point, a huge property in Bayville on Long Island's North Shore, as well as a home in Palm Beach and the Villa Il Fortino in Capri. Her husband’s fortune gave Mona free rein in her love of the arts. She purchased works by Goya, Tiepolo and Fragonard to furnish the New York estate, and also commissioned contemporary decorators such as Syrie Maugham to decorate her homes. Salvator Dali painted her portrait in 1943.

Mona became a lifelong friend and photographic subject of Cecil Beaton. He described her as ‘one of the few outstanding beauties of the thirties… who represented the epitome of all that taste and luxury can bring to flower’. By the early 1930s, Mona’s beauty and elegance were a subject of note on both sides of the Atlantic. In 1933, she was voted ‘the best-dressed woman in the world’ in the annual poll held by the major French couturiers, including Chanel, Molyneux, Vionnet, Lelong and Lanvin. In the photographic portraits of Mona taken in the late 1920s and 1930s, her beauty is enhanced by her stylish jewels.

She had a preference for classical, 19th century jewellery. This ruby and diamond bracelet by the Roman jeweller Petochi was commissioned to complete a suite created around an important late 19th century ruby and diamond necklace by Boucheron. The set also included two rings, a pair of earrings and a second bracelet of similar design likewise by Petochi.

Harrison Williams died at Oak Point in 1953 and Mona inherited a vast fortune. The following year, she married Edward, Count von Bismarck, grandson of Otto von Bismarck, chancellor who united Germany. They moved to Europe, and in 1956 purchased a hôtel particulier in Paris at 34 Avenue de New York, which she completely redecorated. Mona was a glamorous and admired hostess in Paris and on Capri, entertaining guests such as the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, Winston Churchill, Aristotle Onassis and Maria Callas. She was always resplendent in her jewels and beautiful gowns.

After the death of Count von Bismarck in 1970, Mona had an unhappy marriage to Umberto de Martini, who died in a car accident in 1979. Her last years were spent quietly and she died in Paris in 1983 at the age of 86. Her legacy continues through a foundation that bears her name, based in her home in Paris, which fosters Franco-American bonds through art and culture.

In 1986, Sotheby’s Geneva had the privilege of selling the magnificent collection of jewels of the late Mona Bismarck. Her jewels demonstrated her love of beautiful gemstones, as well as her devotion to the luxurious pursuits of life.