Portal logo
FIRE IN THE EARTH
to the height of their popularity and diamond jewelry began to reflect the same feeling for petals and garlands. The square decollete' of this period allowed for the wearing of deep necklaces with many pendants, while the illumination of a thousand candles in the ballroom at Versailles encour­aged the wearing of diamonds for their reflected sparkle. Indeed, Louis XIV made it the duty of the grandees of France and Spain to wear "the whole value of their lands and forests upon their own and their wives' apparel when they appeared before his eyes."
During the next reign, that of Louis XV, the vogue for diamonds became so great that Joseph Strasser made a for­tune by the invention of a lead glass which could be cut in forms resembling the rose-cut diamond. This substitute, known as French paste, was the forerunner of our present-day rhinestones. It was no wonder that glitter should be­come so popular since during that time there lived the Marquise Jeanne Antoinette le Normant d'Etioles, better known as Mme de Pompadour, and Countess Jeanne B6cu du Barry. Both were mistresses of Louis XV in the order named.
Under Pompadour, hair was brushed back from the fore­head and the tendency was toward the high coiffure; even­tually powdered hair was soaring to such fantastic heights that it was necessary to balance the headdress by long earrings—and thus diamond pendants came into vogue. Under the influence of du Barry, flower garlands, cupids, and lover's knots were rampant throughout all decoration. The rose and the bow-knot, which mean so much in today's jewelry, stem from this period and from the succeeding reigns, particularly that of Marie Antoinette and her hus­band, Louis XVI.
While Louis XV was giving his candle parties at Ver-
(172)