The Hutton-Mdivani necklace. UPDATE: IT SOLD FOR $27.44 million.
The world’s greatest jadeite bead necklace comes up at Sotheby’s in Hong Kong on April 7. The Hutton-Mdivani necklace is estimated to sell for more than $12.8 million US. Formerly in the collection of Woolworth heiress Barbara Hutton its provenance spans members of western nobility and Imperial China. The most important piece of jadeite jewellery known comprises 27 gigantic beads of magnificent green colour, excellent translucency, extremely fine texture and majestic proportions.
The Cartier archive records the beads being in their possession in 1933 when an innovative clasp was designed especially for the Hutton family. It was presented as a wedding gift that year to Barbara Hutton from her father on the occasion of her marriage to Prince Mdivani. To fashion a strand of matching jadeite beads, all the beads must be carved from the same boulder and as many as three times the desired number of beads are often needed from which to select the most suitable ones. With the immense wastage involved, jadeite bead necklaces rank among the most valuable and sought-after forms of jadeite jewellery.
Prior to the sale it will be showcased in travelling exhibitions in Shanghai, Beijing, Taipei and Kaohsiung before going on display in Hong Kong.
UPDATE: IT SOLD FOR $27.44 MILLION US