A bright red natan dress with floral lace, a fabienne Delvigne cuff matched … Unsurprisingly, it is on this 100% Brussels duo that Queen Mathilde relies for her toilet during the Belgian national holiday, celebrated on July 21. If a pin could have raised the outfit, His Majesty decided to do without it. To console us with a few carats, King Philippe’s wife still released a most interesting cuff.
Brought for the first time in Athens, in May 2022, during the state visit of the sovereign couple in Greece, the bracelet is a vintage piece of the Parisian creator Pierre Sterlé. He also made an appearance when they came to Paris in 2024. The jewel is a pure example of the know-how of this 20th century avant-garde. Of relatively imposing size, it consists of finely chiseled yellow gold which gives it a modern texture which evokes that of wood. The fall is flexible, almost textile. The whole is noted by patterns paved with diamonds taking the form of flames.
Pierre Sterlé, who began his activity in the 1930s, first by putting himself at the service of big names like Boucheron or Chaumet, then on his own, is emblematic of post-war jewelry. He is called a “jeweler in room”, that is to say a craftsman who, rather than exposing his creations in the windows of a store on the street, is only accessible to the stages, in the salons of his workshop. The guarantee of an exclusive clientele and a aura as mysterious as mythified. Its production, which is today highly sought after in sales houses is characterized by its references to fauna and flora, always executed in asymmetrical rooms, combining white and yellow gold, so -called “precious” and “semi -precious” stones – of the names today dismese.
If the origin of the cuff of Queen Mathilde of Belgium is unknown, two hypotheses seem more likely. It could be a legacy of Queen Fabiola, a fountain of modern jewelry and who bequeathed part of her collection to the wife of King Philippe. Another possibility, the latter could have acquired the object during an auction. It would not be the first time that the queen has been receiving a recently purchased vintage jewel. The queens of Belgium is, in fact, one of the leanth in Europe and the sovereign couple, for the past twenty years, has been a work in what they find the consistency that we would expect from a royal collection worthy of the name.
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