Empress Elisabeth Star

Thanks to Franz Xaver Winterhalter’s portrait of Empress Elisabeth her diamond stars are among the world’s most famous jewellery. Legend has it that the young empress attended a performance of Mozart’s The Magic Flute and was so taken by the starry costume of the Queen of the Night that Emperor Franz Joseph commissioned the court jeweller, Alexander Alexander Emanuel Köchert, to produce a set of diamond stars for Elisabeth.
Sisi owned 27 of these diamond stars that could be worn as a necklace, tiara, pendant, brooches or hair jewellery. Unfortunately, only a handful of original stars have survived.

Today, however, Sisi’s legendary jewellery is no longer the preserve of royalty – now there is an up-to-date version set that every woman can afford.