قمــــــــــــة الرفاهيـــــــــــة
72 شواطئ
201
200
Shawati’ 72
Qemat Al Rafahiya - Pinnacle of Luxury
ملكات وإمبراطورات ودوقات، يشعر الزائر بأن التّاريخ، شـــــأنه شأن المجوهرات، يشع ببريق قصص لا ينطفئ. ومـــــن أجـــــدر مـــــن باريـــــس، مدينـــــة النّور والتّرف، فـــــي احتضان حـــــدث كهذا، يعيد التّأكيد على أن ما نـــــراه أمامنا ليس مجرّد حلـــــي معروضـــــة خلـــــف الزّجـــــاج وداخل الصّناديـــــق، بـــــل شـــــواهد علـــــى الذّاكـــــرة وطموحـــــات النّفـــــس البشـــــريّة وولاءاتها المتفاوتـــــة الهـــــوى. فروعة هـــــذه الكنوز لا تنبع مـــــن براعة صياغتها فحســـــب، بل من الأســـــرار التي ترويها عن حيـــــاة أصحابها وكيف أضـــــاءت لحظاتها الأكثـــــر حميميّة أو شـــــغفًا أو حتى قوّةً. إنّهـــــا الوجه الأبهى لحقيقـــــة ثابتـــــةٍ: أن الجمـــــال والسّـــــلطة والشّـــــغف، عندما يتّحدون معًـــــا في حوار المعـــــدن والحجر، يتركون بصمـــــة تتحدّى اختبار الزّمن. حــــــــوار مع الدكتــــــورة إيمـــــــــــــا إدواردز، القيّمـــــــــة علــــى المشــــــــروع، في متحــــــف فيكتوريا وآلبرت. يمثّـــــل معـــــرض “مجوهـــــرات السُّـــــالات الملكيّة: بيـــــن القوّة، والمجد والشّـــــغف، ” ثالـــــث تعـــــاون يجمـــــع بين 1950–1700 متحـــــف فيكتوريـــــا وآلبـــــرت ومجموعة . كيف يبني هذا 2023 آل ثاني منذ عـــــام
فيما مضى خيار ملوك وملـــــكات وأباطرة وإمبراطورات، وتســـــتقطب اليـــــوم أنظار جمهور عالمي واســـــع. وتُذكّرنا هذه القطع بأن الفخامة الحقيقيّة لا تفنـــــى، طالما أن جذورها ممتدّة في إرث عريق وفن بديع، ومعنًى يتجاوز حدود الزّمن. بالنّســـــــبة لزائر اليوم، الـــــــذي اعتاد النظر إلـــــــى المجوهرات باعتبارهـــــــا مجرّد زينة أو اســـــــتثمار، يُقدّم معـــــــرض “مجوهرات السُّـــــــالات الملكيّة” فرصة أعمق للتأمّل بقيمتها. فهو يذكّر بـــــــأن الجواهر كانت، في زمن مضى، حارســـــــة للمشاعر ورمزًا للهويّـــــــة. والبريق الذي يلمـــــــع اليوم على ســـــــطح ماســـــــة ما، هو البريق نفسه الذي أضاء باطـــــــات أوروبا قبل قـــــــرون. فكل ومضة تحمل أثرًا مـــــــن التّاريخ، وتختزن شيئًا من قصص الذين صاغوا هذه القطع أو ارتدوها أو أحبّوها. وفـــــي جوهره، يُعـــــد “معـــــرض مجوهرات السُّـــــالات الملكيّـــــة” قـــــراءة فـــــي العاقة المتجـــــدّدة بين الجمال والسُّـــــلطة، ورغبة الإنســـــان في أن يخلّد شـــــيئًا مـــــن ذاته عبر صقـــــل المعدن وتطويع الحجر. فهذه القطع تتجـــــاوز أعمار أصحابهـــــا، وتواصل العيش حاملةآثارشغفهمإلىالحاضر.ومعالتجوّل فـــــي جنبات المعرض، بين الألماس والزُّمرّد والياقـــــوت والل ّآّلئ التي زيّنت يومًا رؤوس
For example, two remarkable Cartier masterpieces were acquired by Maharajah Digvijaysinhji of Nawanagar dur- ing his visit to London for the 1937 coronation of George VI: a sumptuous necklace set with an extraordinary suite of oval and cushion-cut Burmese rubies - later reworked and worn to dazzling effect by Gloria Guinness at Truman Capote’s legendary Black and White Ball in 1966 - and the Tiger’s Eye Turban Ornament, a spectacular creation cen- tred on a radiant 61.5-carat golden diamond. Cartier’s cel- ebrated Panther brooch made for the Duchess of Windsor and Van Cleef & Arpels’ diamond and platinum necklace commissioned by Queen Nazli of Egypt for her daugh- ter’s wedding exemplify how the allure of royal jewels evolved into a contemporary language of sophistication and style. Dr Edwards’ curatorial approach invites visitors to look beyond the glitter and see these pieces as artefacts of liv- ing history. Each jewel, she notes, was crafted not only to adorn but to communicate - reflecting alliances, express- ing grief, commemorating love or asserting power. By tracing the lineage of design and craftsmanship from the courts of St Petersburg and Paris to London and beyond, Dynastic Jewels also reveals jewellery’s role as a bridge be- tween cultures. Gems that once sparkled in imperial por- traits or diplomatic ceremonies are now recontextualised as works of art, linking East and West, past and present. The exhibition has been enriched by exceptional loans from leading institutions - including Historic Royal Pal- aces, through the generosity of His Grace the Duke of Fife, the Louvre Museum, the Muséum National d’His- toire Naturelle, the Musée de Minéralogie Mines Par- is M–PSL - as well as the heritage collections of Cartier, Chaumet, Mellerio and Van Cleef & Arpels. The setting could not be more fitting. The Hôtel de la Marine, with its gilded salons and mirrored galleries, was once the keep- er of France’s royal treasures. Since 2001, it has housed masterpieces from The Al Thani Collection in a dedicated museum space. To see these jewels in such surroundings is to experience the intimate conversation between archi- tecture and adornment, between the stone and the set- ting, between power and beauty. Yet Dynastic Jewels: Power, Prestige and Passion, 1700–1950 is not a nostalgic glance backward; it is a celebration of continui- ty. These jewels, shaped by royal hands and visionary jew- ellers, continue to inspire contemporary craftsmanship and design. Their legacy lives on in the ateliers of Cartier, Chaumet, Mellerio and Van Cleef & Arpels - houses that once served kings, queens, emperors and empresses and now captivate a global clientele. They remind us that true luxury is never fleeting; it is built upon heritage, artistry and meaning. For today’s audiences - accustomed to thinking of jew- ellery as an accessory or an investment - this exhibition offers something deeper. It reminds us that jewels were once repositories of emotion and symbols of identity. The light that glints off a diamond today is the same light that illuminated the European courts centuries ago. Each re- flection is a fragment of history, carrying within it the stories of those who commissioned, wore and cherished these works of art. Dynastic Jewels is, at heart, a meditation on the enduring dialogue between beauty and power. It is about how people have sought to immortalise themselves in metal and stone, and how those same creations outlive their owners, carrying traces of their passions into the pres-
ensured these luminous relics of empire survived into the modern era. The exhibition’s design mirrors its subject’s elegance. Visitors move through four distinct sections, each il- luminating a different facet of jewellery’s history. The opening gallery focuses on celebrated gemstones - the 57.31-carat Star of Golconda, the 90.36-carat Briolette of India diamond and Colombian emeralds engraved in Mughal India - revealing how rare stones circulated be- tween continents, empires and dynasties, accruing lay- ers of meaning as they changed hands. In the gallery devoted to majestic tiaras, 11 masterpieces from the 19 th and 20 th centuries trace the evolution of this quintessen- tial emblem of femininity and power, from the neoclassi- cal lines of Napoleonic France to the airy geometry of Art Deco design. Another section, “Bejewelled Heritage”, delves into piec- es steeped in dynastic lineage: Catherine the Great’s flower brooch and diamond-encrusted dress ornaments, Joséphine Bonaparte’s sapphire brooch and pearl ear- rings, and the diadem of Empress Eugénie, commis- sioned from Alexandre-Gabriel Lemonnier in 1853 and set with 212 pearls and 2,990 diamonds. These objects are not just adornments but historical witnesses - tokens of marriages, alliances, coronations and revolutions. The fourth and final gallery,“Power Jewels in ModernTimes”, explores how the upheavals of the 20 th century dispersed Europe’s royal and aristocratic collections into the hands of new elites. Jewels once worn by queens and empress- es reappeared on American heiresses, fashion icons and maharajahs, giving rise to a new cosmopolitan glamour.
Portrait of Queen Victoria, Franz Xaver Winterhalter, 1842 Oil on canvas. The Royal Collection / HM King Charles III, RCIN 401413© His Majesty King Charles III, 2025 / Bridgeman Images
Queen Victoria Coronet, London, 42-1840. Designed by Prince Albert; made by Kitching & Abud. Sapphires, diamonds, gold and silver, V&A: M.2017-20:1, Commonwealth. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London. Purchased through the generosity of William & Judith, Douglas and James Bollinger as a gift to the Nation and the Commonwealth.
Portland Tiara, Garrard, London, c. 1889. Sapphires, diamonds, pearls, gold, silver. The Al Thani Collection, ATC019a. © The Al Thani Collection, 2018. All rights reserved. Photograph by Prudence Cuming Associates Ltd
Made with FlippingBook - professional solution for displaying marketing and sales documents online