Tea at Trianon: Imperial Opals

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Thursday, July 2, 2020

Imperial Opals

From The Court Jeweller:

Wedding gifts from all over the Austro-Hungarian empire poured in for the new crown princess. The City of Budapest offered Stephanie a unique suite of jewels set with rubies, diamonds, and Hungarian opals. Lisa, the reader who visited the Hofburg and has generously shared her photos with all of us, told me, "Personally, I thought the opals to be extremely luminous." In recognition of Stephanie's family, the suite incorporates the golden lion of Belgium, as well as the coat of arms of the City of Budapest. Overall the set's design owed much to traditional Hungarian jewels; it was reportedly inspired specifically by a set owned by a sixteenth-century Queen of Hungary, Isabella Jagiellon. The new set of jewels was placed on public display in Budapest on April 25, 1881. (Read more.)