Léontine, 1794

The whole point of this Belle Époque gate bracelet is restraint — sapphires, carrying a soft royal blue that seems to come from inside, and nothing more than fine millegrain. The detail is built up bead by bead, a technique half-lost by the time this was made. The last owner was a house on the Danube; with a note in the box naming the woman who first wore it. You can tell it was worn, not kept — the highest thing we can say of a piece.