Marie Antoinette Inspires a Gem-Laden Necklace

New York Times

3 hours ago

In July 2023, Laure-Isabelle Mellerio, the president and artistic director of the Mellerio jewelry brand, toured Marie Antoinette's private chambers at Versailles after their extensive five-year renovation.
'I discovered the little apartment of the queen,' Ms. Mellerio recalled last month on a video call from the brand's flagship store on Paris's Rue de la Paix, 'and I thought it would be a good idea to perhaps design a necklace.' After all, Ms. Mellerio is the 14th-generation owner of the house, founded by her family in 1613.
And on July 2, during a private dinner at Versailles, the house unveiled Jardin des Rêves, or Garden of Dreams, the one-of-a-kind necklace that is the result of Ms. Mellerio's vision.
Featuring 14 types of gemstones — including aquamarine, rubellite, tanzanite, imperial topaz, sapphire and tourmaline — totaling 172 carats, the 18-karat gold necklace features a one-carat Mellerio-cut diamond from which hangs a pendant in the shape of a pineapple; the gem-encrusted gold pendant may be removed and worn as an earring. The design is a nod to the pineapple-pattern wall coverings in the queen's chambers, recalling a time when the tropical fruit was considered a symbol of wealth and exoticism.
Christophe Mélard, Mellerio's managing director, said the house had been inspired by the extravagant style of the doomed queen, who was executed in the French Revolution.
'Her personal taste was extremely colorful in terms of textiles, in terms of silk,' Mr. Mélard said. 'Surprisingly, when you consider Versailles, which is huge, her private apartments were very small, very intimate. On the walls and in front of the windows, you have beautiful textiles with a beautiful mix of colors, like a garden, with a tribute to a delicious, huge fruit, the ananas' — the French word for pineapple — 'which, in the 18th century, was considered the king of the fruits.
'We thought it could be extremely interesting to try to translate her personal taste into a jewelry piece.'
Mellerio — which was one of the first jewelers to establish itself in Paris's Place Vendôme area, now a center of high jewelry brands — spent about a year creating the necklace in its workshops there. It is priced at 'around $1 million,' Mr. Mélard said.
Frank Everett, the vice chairman of jewelry at Sotheby's, which auctioned a selection of Marie Antoinette's jewels in 2018, said Mellerio's riotous ode to the queen was a fitting way to honor her.
'She was the first It Girl,' Mr. Everett said. 'The excess of the time translated into Marie Antoinette's style, but she always put this ultra feminine, ladylike touch on things. She never looked overdone. She looked rich — that was the point — but it was beautifully orchestrated.'