Marie Antoinette's Pear Diamonds

Photography by Chip Clark. Gift of Mrs. Eleanor Barzin, 1964.  Smithsonian Institute.

So along in my research I read about a pair of earrings that were apparently one of Marie Antoinette's favorite pieces of jewelry. And I will say it now, I love these earrings. They were made with two large pear shaped diamonds, about 14.25 and 20.34 carats.

My favorite thing about these is their irregularity, can we say baroque?! They don't come so raw yet refined now. It has been said that she wore the earrings constantly only to be parted with them when Revolution time came.

Earrings worn by Kirsten Dunst in the 2006 film, Marie Antoinette.

Sofia Coppola also had her Marie Antoinette (Dunst) wear a brilliant pair of 'diamond' earrings in several scenes of the movie...perhaps she making a connection here?

The provenance of these earrings is wonderful, from the Smithsonian Institute website:

"They once were supposedly set in earrings that belonged to Marie Antoinette, the queen of France who was guillotined in 1793 during the French Revolution. 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."