There’s no more fascinating subject in history than the
doomed French Queen Marie Antoinette. Much maligned by history (she never said
“Let them eat cake,” in response to the people’s need for bread), she was an
unwilling part of the one of the greatest revolutions in history. And met an
untimely end at the guillotine in 1793. While she loved jewelry, and possessed
many magnificent jewels, she often preferred simple muslin gowns and very
little jewelry. Many of the portraits of her by Elisabeth Vigee-Lebrun show her
dressed just like that.
Two large, pear-shaped diamond earrings, weighing 14.25 and
20.34 carats respectively, are part of the Smithsonian Institution’s
collection. The diamonds once were supposedly set in earrings that belonged to
Marie Antoinette and some sources say they were her favorite pieces of jewelry
and she wore them constantly. They were taken from her during an attempt to
flee France as the Revolution dawned and the position of the Royals became
dangerous.
The diamonds were later acquired by the Grand Duchess
Tatiana Yousupoff of Russia. When jeweler Pierre Cartier puchased the diamond
earrings in 1928, their authenticity was attested to in an affidavit by Russian
Princess Zenaide Yousupoff and her son, Prince Felix Yousupoff, stating that
they originally belonged to Queen Marie-Antoinette and have never been reset in
the one hundred years that they were in the family. Marjorie Merriweather Post
acquired the earrings from Pierre Cartier in October 1928. Harry Winston reset
the large diamonds in platinum replicas of the original silver settings in
1959. Cartier, Inc. designed the triangular tops. In November 1964, Mrs. Post's
daughter, Mrs. Eleanor Barzin, donated the earrings, along with the original
setting to the Smithsonian Institution. The diamonds are originally from India
or Brazil, the only significant sources of diamonds in the eighteenth century.
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