Walking into the hall of the Grand Trianon she noticed the ribbon on her pink satin slipper was not tied. Biting her lip as she thought what to do next, she put the toe of her right foot on to the heel of her left foot and pushed down, causing her shoe to fall off. Why did she do that? Was she hoping the butler would scoop up her slipper on to a glove tray?
The array of Marie Antoinette’s dresses was a feast for the eyes; They say she liked blue the best. Though who could say that is true? Everyone knew Marie-Antoinette loved clothes, she had dozens of dresses in every color. Certainly she wouldn’t notice one missing tonight… let alone a pair of pink satin slippers… at least she hoped Marie-Antoinette wouldn’t notice!
Admiring the canary yellow curtains she thought, "Hum those would make a luscious bathrobe! Imagine the bathrobe’s belt made from that cord." Her thoughts came to a halt when she heard the popping of champagne bottles and the clinking of crystal glasses "corne d’abondance" in the room next door.
The room next door was white, like a meringue pie. A perfect place to showcase the colorful splash of ballroom gowns. Suddenly a row of tall dark men walked in, each carrying high over their heads, a silver tray like thing, odd in shape … she stood on her tippy toes to see what was inside, but could not?!
On an elaborate commode they placed the silver monteiths or also known as rafraîchissoir à verre each contained chilled, stem-less, champagne, glasses. Oh she couldn’t wait to go home and tell her blog friends what she saw this night!
She sat down on this stool for a moment. It was too pretty to pass up. She moved her hand along the silk trim and all be darn if there weren’t little bells inside! How fantastic! How original! Didn’t they just think of everything!
While sitting on the stool she noticed HIM…her heart stopped. Her barefoot touched the marble floor. Her hand raised the chilled champagne glass /corne d’abondance to her lips. Just then his sash flew back…. Wow! Holy cow! Mother of God! Who cares about silver trays on a night like this!
The winners who guessed correctly are Kitem and Edi. Thank you Martina for showing me a link to a rafraichissoir a verre which showed me that it is the same thing as a Monteith. Hence two winners.
The winner of the most original response, goes to Kim with her response to the guessing game antique tray: "I keep seeing water in it, held for a baptism, they sprinkle the water on the child from it."
Also thank you Tara for allowing me to use a photo-link of your corne d’abondance, especially made to sit in a monteith or rafraichissoir a verre. Also special thanks to Marie Noelle for helping me double check, research and for finding the French terms for the champagne flutes: Corne d’abondance, or le pomponne, or/and "boit-tout" (You had to drink up before putting your glass down.)
Thank you each and everyone for your responses, comments, emails, help and enthusiasm!
Photos: Taken while on holiday at the Grand Trianon in Versailles
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