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Marie Antoinette Earrings
Thereˇ¦s no more fascinating subject in history than the doomed French
Queen Marie Antoinette. Much maligned by history (she never said ˇ§Let
them eat cake,ˇ¨ in response to the peopleˇ¦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 Institutionˇ¦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.
