Marie Antoinette Drop Earrings

Posted by Maire Loughran Oct 29, 2006

Sophia Coppola's Marie Antoinette opened in theaters a few weeks back amid much discussion about the oppulent, feminine gowns worn by Kirsten Dunst in the movie.

I've never been too much of a fan of 18th century jewelry (distinguishing feature - diamond studded bows and floral shapes worn as pendants and earrings).

However, I thought I would look up a gallery of portraits of Antoinette to check out the jewelry worn. It was a little disappointing. Most portraits of Marie-Antoinette showed little to no jewelry.

My favorite pair of earrings is shown in a portrait painted in 1787 by Louise-Elisabeth Vigée-Le-Brun.

They were gold drop earrings set with a single large gemstone per earring. In the portrait the gemstone appears cloudly - like a moonstone. However, due to the proliferation of Brazilian diamonds during that period and since Marie-Antoinette was a known to be a big fan of diamonds I am relatively certain these are diamond drops.

If you look at a close up of the portrait, these earrings appear to be hoops with a drop - another twist on the fabrication of earrings.