Antique Limoges Hand Painted Brooch w / Marie Antoinette in Tableux Vivant c1895

Limoge Hand Painted Brooch w / Marie Antoinette in Tableux Vivant as a Dancing Shepardess - c1895 - 1915. ( Also use as Title ) Here is a charming oval brooch made with a hand painted Limoges France porcelain miniature in a gold toned brass frame produced in France between 1895 and 1915. It features a working trumpet style clasp. Size: Approximately - 2.5 wide x 1.75” tall - Ideal to adorn a neckline, a cascade of ruffles, a hat band, a jacket or a handbag. Or use simply for display in a vignette of Limoges porcelain. The scenes illustrated on these brooches were inspired by Marie Antionette playing shepherdess in her fairy tale cottage - the Petit Trianon located on the grounds of the Palace of Versailles. The Hameau de Riene ( French for Queen’s Hamlet) was a fairy tale rustic retreat in the Park of Versailles, built for Marie Antoinette as her private escape from all the pressures and stresses of being Queen of France. Here she and her closest friends would dress up in idealized rustic costumes and act as shepherds and shepherdesses, while still enjoying the comforts of their wealth and social position. Thus, when the responsibilities of being constantly surrounded by the Courtiers at the Palace of Versailles became too much for the Queen she would escape to her perfect little country village where she could indulge in the perks of a simple, peasant life. Here the queen would dress up as a shepherdess and act like a commoner, while surrounded by wealth.