Among all the precious historical jewels, few are as precious or rare as the portrait diamond – a miniature covered with a flat diamond, unique for its shape, perfection and clarity. This lavish two-volume set examines the history of the portrait diamond in Russia, where this rare and unusual form achieved its greatest height under the patronage of the Romanovs. Of 55 recorded portrait diamonds, only 36 are extant today. This book focuses on an extraordinary private collection representing almost one third of them.
 
In the collection at the heart of this book, eleven portrait diamonds adorn six different jewels associated with Russian tsars, tsarinas, grand dukes and duchesses, beginning with the legendary Peter the Great (1672–1725) and concluding with the four daughters of Nicolas II (1868–1918) and Alexandra Feodorovna (1872–1918): Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia, whose were tragic assassinated in 1918. Included also are Emperor Nicolas I, Empress Maria Alexandrovna and Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich, among others. The jewels range from rings and earrings to pendants, and include one demi-parure. Their great rarity is corroborated in the Appendix by Karen Kettering that situates this group among the fewer than fifty examples known in the world, many of which are either recorded but evidently lost or located today in important museum collections.
 
The two-volume study is published as a complementary set which features new research, remarkable photographs and diagnostic analysis of the genre of the portrait diamond. Volume I is illustrated with spectacular photographs of all the portrait diamonds, along with short descriptions of each and a summary-introduction. Volume II includes a longer introduction which examines the portrait diamond within the history of the genre with references to comparable examples made for members of the English and French courts and which traces the history of the portrait diamond in Russia through its patronage, its jewellers and its relationship to Fabergé Easter eggs.
 
The volume features two in-depth studies by eminent jewellery historian Diana Scarisbrick, as well as detailed descriptions for each piece by Karen Kettering. These studies set the jewels within a dazzling chronicle of Russian history marked by great reform and governed by incomparable wealth but also flawed by terrible violence and unspeakable tragedy. An accompanying scientific description of the fashioning of a flat diamond suitable for this genre explains clearly – perhaps for the first time – the rare and complex technique.