A diamond once owned by Marie Antoinette’s daughter, reimagined by JAR

This is a diamond with a history as striking as its beauty. The 10.38 carat stone is believed to date to the mid-18th century and was once owned by Duchess Marie-Thérèse d’Angoulême, the only surviving child of Queen Marie Antoinette.

According to royal tradition, the queen entrusted her jewels to her loyal coiffeur before her failed escape from Paris in 1791. Many of those jewels were later passed to Marie-Thérèse. While uncertain if this specific diamond was among the storied cache, what is known is that the jewel belonged to Marie-Thérèse, who bequeathed it to her niece, Duchess Marie-Thérèse de Chambord, and was later acquired by Queen Marie Theresa of Bavaria, who referred to it in her will as ‘a pink solitaire diamond from Aunt Chambord.’

It remained part of the royal family’s own storied collection and was henceforth passed down for generations until it sold in 1996. Later, the current owner tapped legendary jewellery designer Joel Arthur Rosenthal, known as JAR, to design a new setting for the diamond as the centrepiece of a stunning ring.

‘It has everything you could want in a piece of jewellery,’ says Rahul Kadakia, Christie’s International Head of Jewellery. ‘The stone — likely from the prized Indian region of Golconda — has several shades of soft colours, flashing purple and pink from different angles. And it’s been transformed into a masterpiece by JAR, all while carrying the splendour of royal provenance.’ 

Offered on 17 June as part of the Magnificent Jewels sale at Christie’s in New York, this singular treasure represents a rare chance to own a piece of history updated by a master jeweller for our time.

A style icon for the ages

Marie Antoinette has long had a reputation as an icon of style and a lover of luxury, from the height of her power during the Ancien Régime to the present day. At the Palace of Versailles, where opulence defined court life, she amassed an extraordinary collection of jewellery that reflected her status and taste.

The Queen’s jewels — from necklaces, earrings and bracelets to tiaras and hair ornaments — were crafted from the finest pearls, rubies, sapphires and diamonds of all shapes and sizes. She commissioned pieces from renowned royal jewellers such as Boehmer and Bassenge, and even borrowed a small fortune from her husband, King Louis XVI, in pursuit of a pair of diamond bracelets.

After her execution in 1793, her eldest daughter, Marie-Thérèse, was sent to the Queen’s home country of Austria. There, she was reunited with items from her mother’s jewellery collection that had been entrusted to Marie Antoinette’s coiffeur during the Revolution. Amongst the jewels secreted out of France were a dazzling set of large, pear-shaped diamond earrings now in the collection of the Smithsonian’s Museum of Natural History as well as an exquisite pair of diamond bracelets that were sold at Christie’s in 2021.

A conversation between the centuries

The kite-shaped diamond in the JAR ring on offer this June harkens to the opulence of French court life, in which Marie-Thérèse was raised. In his refashioning of the royal diamond, the acclaimed jeweller, who produces only a few pieces per year, set the stone atop two rings of pavé diamonds and used a pavé setting for the band.

Known for intricate detail and unconventional colours, JAR’s works are wearable sculptures, each custom-made for his clients including Elizabeth Taylor and Diane von Furstenberg. His influence in the art of jewellery is unrivalled, and in 2014 he became the first jeweller to receive a retrospective exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Above the large centre Marie-Thérèse diamond in the ring he designed for the present owner is a sparkling fleur-de-lis composed of 17 diamonds. ‘It’s a modern design by JAR, and yet if you look closely, it’s reminiscent of a crown,’ says Kadakia. ‘He took into account the royal history of the stone while making it of-the-moment.’

A glittering artefact of European history, this precious ring boasts unmatched provenance and is a wearable conversation between the centuries. The next owner will get to steward this incomparable jewel into a new era.