Tea at Trianon: Sotheby’s Unveils Jewel Linked to Marie Antoinette’s Infamous ‘Affair of the Necklace‘

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

Monday, September 30, 2024

Sotheby’s Unveils Jewel Linked to Marie Antoinette’s Infamous ‘Affair of the Necklace‘

Of course, the Queen was completely innocent of the Diamond Necklace Scandal. It was a gaudy necklace and not to her taste. She never owned it or tried to buy it. From JCK Online:

During Sotheby’s upcoming Royal and Noble Jewels Live Sale (on Nov. 11 in Geneva and Oct. 25 via online bidding), the auction house is offering one particularly rare and historic 18th-century jewel: a necklace with approximately 300 cts. t.w. of diamonds once belonging to French queen Marie Antoinette. Making its first public appearance in 50 years, the piece is expected to fetch $1.8 to $2.8 million (CHF 1,600,000 to 2,400,000).

Beyond its overt beauty, this jewel is believed to be connected to a particularly notable historical event, the infamous “Affair of the Necklace”—the scandal that shook the French monarchy and played a role in the downfall of Marie Antoinette. The affair involved a diamond necklace originally commissioned for Louis XV’s mistress but later linked to the queen through a fraudulent scheme. The necklace became a symbol of the monarchy’s excess and fueled public outrage against Marie Antoinette, contributing to the French Revolution.

The diamonds in this jewel are thought to have originated from the famous necklace at the center of this scandal. Crafted in the decade before the revolution, this piece likely adorned royalty or aristocrats, with its opulent design reflecting the grandeur of the time. Its connection to such a pivotal moment in history makes it an even more significant treasure. (Read more.)