Decade 1770-1779

Except otherwise stated, all results include the premium.
​See also :  George III  US Independence  Development of USA  18th century painting  Jewels  Jewels II  Tribal Oceania  US painting < 1940  Furniture  Colonial furniture  Textiles  Chinese calligraphy

​> 1770 Pearl Pendant of Queen Marie-Antoinette
2018 SOLD for CHF 36.4M by Sotheby's

​​For her marriage to the future King Louis XVI, Marie-Antoinette received an impressive quantity of diamonds, rubies and pearls from her mother, the Empress Marie Therese, and from her husband's grandfather, King Louis XV. She loved jewelry and kept improving her collection.

During early phase of the Revolution, Marie-Antoinette who is still the Queen plans to flee to Austria. In January 1791, helped by her chambermaid, she prepares a cassette with her favorite jewelry. The jewels reach Vienna but the king and queen are arrested in Varennes in June 1791.

In 1795 Madame Royale, the only survivor of the children of the royal couple, is freed from the revolutionary prisons and goes into exile in Vienna. The emperor Franz II returns the jewels to her while keeping the rubies in compensation for a pension granted to the princess. In Madame Royale's legacy in 1851, one third of the jewelry is attributed to her niece Louise, Duchess of Parma.

Around 1930 Marie-Anne of Austria, wife of the acting Duke of Parma, describes in an inventory four jewels in pearls and diamonds of which she attests that they come from Marie-Antoinette. These pieces, which had never been published or exhibited, were included in the auction of the royal jewelry from the Bourbon-Parma collection by Sotheby's on November 14, 2018.

Lot 97, a three-row pearl necklace with a diamond clasp, was sold for CHF 2.3M. The next two lots, a necklace and a pair of earrings, were sold for CHF 450K each.

Lot 100 was a 15.90 x 18.35 x 25.85mm drop shaped pearl assembled in a pendant with a large diamond clasp and a bow of small diamonds. This interesting souvenir of a queen who had desired to live in the utmost luxury was sold for CHF 36.4M from a lower estimate of CHF 1M.
  • Featuring a 17.39-carat drop-shaped natural pearl suspended from a diamond bow, the pendant's provenance traces to the queen's collection, smuggled to safety during the French Revolution via a loyal valet.
  • Natural pearls like this one, formed organically without human intervention, are exceptionally rare today due to overharvesting, driving collector demand and values far beyond cultured alternatives, as evidenced by peer-reviewed gemology studies on pearl scarcity.
Description of the Jewel
​The jewel in question is an exceptional 18th-century natural pearl and diamond pendant, featuring a slightly baroque drop-shaped natural saltwater pearl measuring approximately 15.90 x 18.35 x 25.85mm, suspended from a diamond bow motif, with an oval diamond surmount that originally served as a clasp. The pearl exhibits a slightly cream body color with rosé and green overtones, good skin, and luster, while the central cushion-shaped diamond weighs about 3.40 carats, accompanied by other bright and lively diamonds. It was part of a larger parure, including a three-strand natural pearl necklace (totaling 161 pearls) and matching earrings, from which the pendant could be detached and worn separately. The piece shows signs of age-appropriate wear, such as tarnish, but remains in very good condition, weighing approximately 13 grams.
Origins and Acquisition by Marie Antoinette (Pre-1770s to 1791)
The pendant dates to the 18th century and was part of the extensive jewelry collection of Marie Antoinette, Queen of France (1755-1793), likely acquired during her time as Dauphine or Queen, possibly as a gift or purchase from royal jewelers. Natural pearls of this size and quality were exceedingly rare, sourced primarily from the Persian Gulf or other oceanic regions before overharvesting depleted supplies. Marie Antoinette was known for her opulent taste in jewels, and this pendant was worn as part of her three-strand pearl necklace, as depicted in portraits from before the French Revolution.
During the French Revolution (1791-1793)
In February 1791, amid escalating turmoil, Marie Antoinette packed her most valuable jewels, including this pendant and the accompanying parure, into a wooden chest hidden in a mezzanine cabinet at the Tuileries Palace in Paris. As the royal family attempted to escape (the failed Flight to Varennes), the jewels were smuggled out of France by a loyal confidant, possibly her hairdresser or valet, first to Brussels under the protection of her sister, Archduchess Maria Christina, Governor of the Austrian Netherlands. From there, they were forwarded to Vienna via Count Mercy-Argenteau, the Austrian ambassador, and placed in the safekeeping of her nephew, Emperor Francis II of the Holy Roman Empire. Marie Antoinette was arrested in 1791 and executed by guillotine on October 16, 1793, never seeing her jewels again.
Inheritance by Marie-Thérèse de France (1795-1851)
After Marie Antoinette's death, the jewels were released in 1795 to her only surviving child, Marie-Thérèse-Charlotte de France (1778-1851), known as Madame Royale, who had been imprisoned in the Temple Tower but was exchanged for French prisoners and exiled to Vienna. Marie-Thérèse, who later became Duchess of Angoulême and Comtesse de Marnes upon marrying her cousin Louis Antoine, Duke of Angoulême, kept the pendant as part of her mother's legacy. Having no children, she treated it as a family heirloom.
Transfer to the Bourbon-Parma Family (1851 Onward)
Upon Marie-Thérèse's death in 1851, she bequeathed a portion of her jewelry collection, including the pearl parure and pendant, to her adoptive niece and goddaughter, Louise Marie Thérèse d'Artois (1819-1864), daughter of Charles Ferdinand, Duke of Berry. Louise, who married Ferdinand Charles III, Duke of Parma in 1845, became Duchess of Parma and integrated the jewels into the Bourbon-Parma family holdings. She is depicted wearing the pendant in a 1849 painting by Prosper Raffi, alongside her children. After Charles III's assassination in 1854, Louise served as regent for their son, Robert I, Duke of Parma (1848-1907). The pendant remained in the Bourbon-Parma family, passing through generations of descendants. Robert I had 24 children from two marriages, and the jewels were likely inherited by branches including Prince Elias of Bourbon-Parma (1880-1959), son of Robert I, and subsequent heirs such as Archduchess Maria Anna of Austria (1882-1940), who married Prince Elias and inventoried the parure. The exact path through all descendants is not fully public, but it stayed within the family for over 200 years, preserved in its original fitted case and documented in family inventories as directly from Marie Antoinette.
The 2018 Auction and Beyond
In 2018, a descendant of the Bourbon-Parma family consigned the pendant to Sotheby's Geneva as Lot 100 in the "Royal Jewels from the Bourbon Parma Family" auction on November 14. Estimated at CHF 1-2 million, it sold for a record-breaking CHF 36,427,000 (approximately $36.8 million USD), shattering the previous auction record for a natural pearl by more than 20 times and becoming the most expensive pearl ever sold. The buyer remains anonymous, and no public information is available on its location or ownership since the sale.

This pendant's history encapsulates royal opulence, revolutionary drama, and enduring family legacy, making it one of the most significant jewels to survive from the French monarchy.

1770s pair of views by Guardi
2025 SOLD for $ 10.5M by Sotheby's

When he captured the clientele of the late Canaletto who had died in 1764, Francesco Guardi developed his own style with a brighter and paler palette and lesser conformance in the realism of the monuments.

A pair of undated views that were originally parts of a set of four divided in 1939 is matching the style of the artist in the early 1770s. One of them features the Punta della Dogana and the Church of Santa Maria della Salute and the other one the churches of San Giorgio Maggiore and Santa Maria della Salute. The water foreground respectively displays gondolas and fishing boats.

This very well preserved pair in oil on canvas 54 x 86 cm each was sold for $ 10.5M by Sotheby's on May 21, 2025, lot 19.

1772-1785 Desk-and-Bookcase from Rhode Island
1989 SOLD for $ 12M by Christie's

The Block and Shell style, denoting the ornaments of the drawers, appears around 1755 in Newport RI in the furniture made by the Townsend-Goddard dynasty of cabinetmakers. The masters of the second generation are John Townsend and John Goddard.

The Chippendale style succeeds the Queen Anne. John Goddard is probably the first to make the desk-and-bookcase which is an adaptation of the Block and Shell to the Chippendale. These pieces of furniture are not signed and very difficult to attribute to one or another master in that family. Nine examples in the six-shell design have survived, all of them in mahogany.

The Brown brothers were wealthy merchants and statesmen of Providence RI, involved in slave trade and smuggling. A Newport-style desk-and-bookcase that belonged to John Brown, 272 × 113 × 64 cm, is kept at Yale University. The piece that belonged to Nicholas Brown, 287 × 108 × 64 cm, is very similar. It had remained in the direct descent of its first owner and was sold for $ 12M by Christie's on June 3, 1989.

For the attribution of these two pieces of furniture, it was noticed that Daniel Spencer, a nephew of John Goddard, had left Newport and established a workshop for the making of cabinets and chairs in Providence in 1772. The terminus ante quem is his imprisonment for debt in 1785. He ended his career in Kentucky.

1773 Poem of the White Baita by the Qianlong Emperor
2014 SOLD for RMB 116M by Poly

On the sacred hill in the center of an imperial garden whose creation dates back to the founding of Beijing, the Shunzhi emperor has erected in 1651 CE, seventh year of the Qing dynasty, a stupa nearly 40 meters high for the purpose to please Buddhists. The monument, named baita in pinyin, is dazzling white, like a small Taj Mahal.

In 1773 CE the Qianlong emperor, great-grandson and third successor of Shunzhi, climbs the enchanted hill. As in all circumstances, he records his feelings. The poem is composed of five parts : a general description and an observed view from each of the four cardinal points.

The autograph scrolls calligraphed by the emperor are 27 cm high and 80 to 118 cm long. Each scroll is divided into two parts, the poem in tight pictograms on the left and four full-height characters on the right for the title. Several imperial seals have been printed, including the Qianlong Chen Han ("written by the emperor's brush") and the Tai Shang Huang Di.

The eastern scroll is not located. The other four were re-united and were sold together for RMB 116M by Poly on December 2, 2014, lot 3030. The image is shared by China Daily in the post sale report.

1773 Going to Market by Gainsborough
​2019 SOLD for £ 8M by Sotheby's

Throughout his career Thomas Gainsborough has sought a compromise between his passion for the landscape and the need to earn a living through the worldly portrait. He is not comfortable with the academies but the clients show little interest in the views of English landscapes.

From 1758 to 1774 he lives and works in Bath where he finds a new clientele and gets closer to nature. The English society is undergoing a transformation at that time, at the expense of the poorer classes. This easily irritable artist is a sentimental who manages to bring charity.

Going to market, early morning, was sold for £ 8M by Sotheby's on July 3, 2019, lot 22.
​
This oil on canvas of large size, 122 x 147 cm, is a perfect balance between the landscape and the staging of characters and animals. A group on horseback reaches the top of a hill above the plain in the beautiful cold light of dawn.

This work is not narrative but social, showing the occupations of poor people. The group is led by a pretty young woman with big baskets of goods. She is admired by a young peasant. They are followed by three colliers who go to the mine for their daily hiring. Sitting on the side of the path, a woman with two very young children is hoping for charity.

Going to market was sold in 1773 by Gainsborough to the banker Henry Hoare. A patron of the arts, Hoare was nicknamed Henry the Magnificent. With this masterpiece, Gainsborough certainly desired to share his social sensitivity with his influential client.

This attention brought by Gainsborough to the rural transformations is contemporary with the paintings of the English industrial revolution by Wright of Derby.

1775 Album of Jinling Views by Dong Gao
​2019 SOLD for HK$ 84M by Holly's

The city of Nanjing, meaning the Capital of the South, was known as Jinling from the Warring States era nearly two millennia ago. It is surrounded by beautiful sceneries and has many cultural places of interest including the Qixia mountain and its Buddhist temple and mausoleum.

A frequent visitor to the south, the Qianlong emperor had a high appreciation for an album of 10 views in and around Qixia exquisitely painted in 1775 CE by his young courtier Dong Gao in color on paper 28.7 x 39.5 cm each in the classic style of mountain landscapes and of calligraphy.

This so-called album of Jinling's ten places of interest was recorded in the imperial Shiqu Baoji catalogue continuation. It was sold for HK $ 84M by Holly's on November 24, 2019, lot 18.

1776 Portrait of Omai by Reynolds
2001 SOLD for £ 10.3M by Sotheby's​​

Omai is native from Raiateia island. He was in Tahiti during Wallis' visit in 1767 and Cook's first visit in 1769. He then had to find refuge on another island, Huahine. In 1773 one of the boats of the second Cook voyage, the HMS Adventure, docked in Huahine. The young man aged around 22 embarked on the Adventure, certainly with an intense curiosity concerning the life in Europe.

His arrival in London in October 1774 was a social event. Omai is handsome. He has a quick wit and good looks which remain exotic. Celebrated like a prince by the aristocracy, this son of a Polynesian peasant is in England the first living symbol of the myth of the "noble savage" which echoes Rousseau's "bon sauvage".

Joshua Reynolds, the founding president of the Royal Academy, is a painter of worldly portraits. In 1776 at the exhibition of the Academy, he displays among other paintings a portrait of Omai, oil on canvas 230 x 140 cm. The young man is standing in a proud attitude. The clothes are luxurious.

This portrait somehow inaugurates the orientalist painting and its idealism. Reynolds achieves a spectacular effect, without seeking realism. The flowing robe is inspired by the Roman toga and the oriental turban is nothing Polynesian. The landscape behind him is Greek, with a few palm trees.

This artwork is unique in the art of Reynolds, who probably created it especially without commission for the exhibition of 1776 and kept it in his studio until his death. It was sold for £ 10.3M by Sotheby's on November 29, 2001. The image is shared by Wikimedia.

Omai returned to Polynesia with Cook's third voyage.

1776 Tygers at Play by Stubbs
2014 SOLD for £ 7.7M by Sotheby's

Famous for his paintings of horses with or without riders, George Stubbs was primarily an anatomist in the great period of curiosity of the mid-eighteenth century. He published in 1766 The Anatomy of the Horse, illustrated with drawings.

Images of horses were welcomed by the English aristocracy. Stubbs was a gifted painter. He was the only artist capable of applying the theme of the animal as a specialty of major art.

In London, menageries are in the trend. Visitors dream of the distant lands from where the wild beasts have come. As early as 1762 Stubbs painted a lion attacking a horse. Lions and those other big cats designated at that time under the generic term of tygers soon occupy the top place in his art.

Tygers at play, oil on canvas 102 x 127 cm, was sold for £ 7.7M from a lower estimate of £ 4M by Sotheby's on July 9, 2014. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.

Two leopard kittens play with great vivacity in an imaginary exotic landscape certainly inspired by the passion of the contemporaries for Cook's discoveries. These friendly animals respond positively to the postulate of Rousseau on natural goodness at birth.

This undated painting was exhibited for the first time in 1776. Carefully preserved with discretion for almost two centuries by a British aristocratic family, it remains in a very exciting condition.

1777 US Flag
2006 SOLD for $ 12.3M by Sotheby's​

A Loyalist officer in the Revolutionary War, Banastre Tarleton returns to England in 1781 with a collection of four colors taken from the Americans.

His late father, a shipowner from Liverpool, had made his fortune in the slave trade. As soon as the war for independence broke out, the 21-year-old Banastre crossed the Atlantic. In 1778 he created in New York the Tarleton's Raiders, a cavalry unit wearing the green uniform of the British Legion. This brilliant officer is famous for the massacre of the Patriots at the Battle of Waxhaws.

Directly from his descendance, the four trophies were auctioned by Sotheby's on June 14, 2006.

Lot 1, sold for $ 12.3M, is a flag of the 2nd Continental Light Dragons taken in 1779 at the Battle of Pound Ridge. It is in silk 76 x 90 cm plus a 7 cm silver fringe on the three fly sides.

This piece is the only surviving example of the first style of US flags, with the thirteen red and white stripes symbolizing the founding states but before the addition of the stars by the Continental Congress on June 14, 1777. In the center of this flag, a rectangle fabric is painted with a winged storm cloud with a motto in ribbon. Its terminus post quem is the creation of its regiment on December 12, 1776.

The other three flags were sold together for $ 5.1M, lot 2. They constitute the 3rd Virginia Detachment color set, taken at Waxhaws in 1780.​

1779 Washington at Princeton by Charles Willson Peale
2006 SOLD for $ 21.3M by Christie's​

On June 14, 1774, the Continental Congress creates an army to carry on the War of Independence. Its commander-in-chief is George Washington, a Virginia planter who is also an officer and a veteran of the Seven Years' War.

Washington is towering by his tall stature and by his phlegm, and surprises his assistants by his abnegation and his virtues. It is not enough. He had never exercised a command on the battlefield and his weak and inexperienced army has everything to learn.

Everything seems easy for the British in December 1776, to the point that they decide to take up their winter quarters in New Jersey, waiting for the sunny days to capture Philadelphia. George Washington will soon be unable to pay his exhausted troops. In a heroic burst, he surprises the British garrisons in Trenton and Princeton. These were the first ever victories of the American army.

The war remains undecided, and they must continue to set an example. On January 18, 1779, the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania commissions a portrait of General Washington to Charles Willson Peale.

The young artist had made an early portrait of the hero at Mount Vernon in 1772. He had been part of the reinforcements from the militias of Pennsylvania who had contributed to the victories of Trenton and Princeton, and had been appreciated by the soldiers for the miniature portraits painted on the field of battle.

The work which responds to the order from Pennsylvania is a full-length standing portrait of Washington after the Battle of Princeton. The hero is displayed in his signature attitude of modesty, without the face or the clothing having been embellished. He puts his hand on a cannon. Symbols of victory include a column of British prisoners with their red coats. This oil on canvas 246 x 149 cm is kept at the museum of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.

The strengthening of the young nation also includes an international propaganda to its new French and Spanish allies. Autograph replicas are made by the artist. One of them, oil on canvas 244 x 156 cm dated 1779, was conveyed to Spain by an American diplomat. The political message gradually lost its force and the painting ended up being bequeathed to a Capuchin school in the Basque region, where it was bought around 1918 by an antiquarian dealer from New York.

This portrait of Washington at Princeton was sold for $ 21.3M by Christie's on January 21, 2006, lot 547, from a lower estimate of $ 10M. Please watch the video prepared in 2015 by the auction house to remind the sale of this outstanding painting, the last of its type in private hands.