The Ornamented Being

“Parure, consisting of a necklace with a pendant, a bracelet and a pair of ear-rings. Enamelled and chased-gold links uniting sixteen enamelled miniatures, fourteen inscribed on the reverse with the identities of the figures portrayed.

The inscriptions on the backs of these enamelled miniatures identify the portraits as following: on the necklace from left to right, Mme de Parabere (mistress of the Regent, the duc d’Orléans), Princess de Lamballe (Marie Antoinette’s closest friend;), Mme Elizabeth (sister of Louis XVI), Henriette d’Angleterre (sister of Charles 11 of England, wife of the Dauphin, Philippe d’Orléans), Mme Dubarry (mistress of Louis XV from 1769); Marie Antoinette (Queen of France) on the pendant.. The back of the miniature on the clasp is covered but the portrait appears to be that of Mme de Pompadour, mistress of Louis XV for twenty years (1744 - 64). On the bracelet, from left to right the portraits are of Mlle de Lavaliere (presumably Louise de la Valiere, mistress of Louis XIV), Marie Antoinette, Marquise de Sévigné (mistress of Louis XIV), Mme de Montespan (also a mistress of Louis X1V). The inscription on the clasp is again covered, but the sitter may be Madame de Maintenon, last mistress of Louis XIV, whom he married in 1685. The earrings have Mme Elizabeth, the Princess de Lamballe, and Marie Antoinette twice; the upper miniature on the right shows her as Archduchesse d’Autriche, before she married Louis XVI.”