An historic antique jeweled necklace – Photo courtesy of Wartski, London
Formed as a fringe of twenty one graduated drop-shaped grey natural pearls, each suspended from an old-cut diamond collet mounted to the diamond ribbon which intertwines the ruby collar, the collar is set with twelve button-shaped grey natural pearls which are mounted in gold.
The pearls of this exquisite necklace, which date to circa 1780, are believed to have belonged to the inexorably extravagant Marie Antoinette, the last Queen of France. As a token of good faith, Marie Antoinette entrusted the incredibly rare pearls to Lady Sutherland, Elizabeth Leveson-Gower, the wife of the British ambassador (1790-1792) Lord George Leveson-Gower for safekeeping. According to historic record, Lord and Lady Leveson-Gower aided King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette during their imprisonment and attempted flight from France on June 20th, 1791.
After the Queen’s execution in 1793, the pearls were subsequently mounted as a necklace for the occasion of the marriage between Lady Elizabeth’s grandson, George Granville William Sutherland-Leveson-Gower and Anne Hay-Mackenzie on June 20th, 1849.
The pearls’ illustrious provenance is resplendent with royal titles:
Archduchess Maria Antonia of Austria, later Marie Antoinette, Queen of France and Navarre (1755-1793), Queen consort of King Louis XVI (1754-1793), daughter of Emperor Francis I and Empress Marie Theresa of Austria.
Lady Elizabeth Sutherland, Duchess of Sutherland and suo jure 19th Countess of Sutherland, later Elizabeth Leveson-Gower (1765-1839), wife of George Granville Leveson-Gower (1758-1833), Viscount Trentham, from 1786 2nd Earl Gower, succeeding his father as 2nd Marquess of Stafford in 1803, created 1st Duke of Sutherland in 1833, British ambassador to France from 1790 to 1792.
Her son, George Granville Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, Earl Gower (1786-1861), in 1861 2nd Duke of Sutherland.
His daughter-in-law, Anne Hay-Mackenzie (1829-1888), daughter of John Hay-Mackenzie of Cromartie and Newhall and great-great-granddaughter of the last Mackenzie Earl of Cromarty, married on 20 June 1849 George Granville William Sutherland-Leveson-Gower (1828-1892), Marquess of Stafford from 1833 to 1861, from 1861 3rd Duke of Sutherland, to become Anne Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, Duchess of Sutherland and 19th Countess of Sutherland, known as Countess of Cromartie in her own right from 1861, Mistress of the Robes and confidante of Queen Victoria from 1870 to 1874.
(source http://www.jewelsdujour.com/)