That Necklace

Nicolas-Antoine Taunay (publisher)
Représentation exacte du grand collier en brilliants
(Affaire du collier Marie-Antoinette)
ca. 1785
hand-colored engraving
British Museum

Nicolas-Antoine Taunay (publisher)
Représentation exacte du grand collier en brilliants
(Affaire du collier Marie-Antoinette)
ca. 1785
engraving
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

"This print shows a to-scale representation of the diamond necklace central in the so-called 'Affair of the Necklace' which brought scandal upon the French royal family and upon Queen Marie-Antoinette in particular in the years leading up to the French Revolution.  The necklace had initially been commissioned by Louis XV from Parisian jewelers Böhmer et Bassenge for his mistress, Madame du Barry (Jeanne Bécu de Cantigny).  The design for the necklace contained a total of 540 diamonds.  In the event, King Louis XV died before the jewelers could complete the commission.  Left deeply in debt and without a buyer for the extravagant piece, Böhmer et Bassenge offered their creation to the new Queen, Marie-Antoinette, but she declined.  The necklace then became the protagonist in a scheme involving the Cardinal de Rohan (Louis-René-Édouard, prince de Rohan) and his mistress the Comtesse de La Motte (Jeanne de Valois Saint-Rémy).  The Cardinal reopened negotiations with the jewelers, informing them of the Queen's renewed interest, and convinced them that she would pay them for it in installments.  The jewelers accepted this arrangement and handed the necklace over to Rohan, who gave it to his mistress, who then spirited it away.  When the jewelers wrote to Marie-Antoinette to inquire when they would receive payment, the scheme was discovered.  Both Rohan and Comtesse de La Motte were apprehended and put on trial.  They were not the only ones to pay a price, however.  Public opinion turned against the Queen, who was accused of plotting the whole scheme to rid herself of Cardinal de Rohan.  Böhmer et Bassenge were left bankrupt, never receiving payment for the necklace, which itself had disappeared and was believed to have been disassembled.  Nicholas de La Motte, husband of the Comtesse, was shortly caught fencing some of the diamonds in London."  

– from curator's notes at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Albert Guerrin
Collier de la Reine (Marie-Antoinette)
ca. 1960-63
white sapphires, pearls, gold
(replica of original in diamonds, lost since 1785)
Château de Versailles