Sevres "Jeanne Du Barry" Decorative Plate

A fantastic Sevres decorative plate depicting Madame Jeanne Du Barry, the mistress of King Louis XV.

Madame Jeanne Bécu, comtesse du Barry (19 August 1743 – 8 December 1793), mistress of King Louis XV, was perhaps one of the more controversial figures of her time.

The illegitimate daughter of a 30-year-old seamstress and an unknown father, Marie-Jeanne Bécu came from rather humble beginnings. At 3 years old, she and her mother were taken in by her mother's acquaintance and presumed lover, Monsieur Billiard Dumonceaux, and thus moved to the outskirts of Paris, where she began her studies at the Convent of St. Aure.

When she was 15, she left the convent, and began down a line of odd jobs. Hawking trinkets on the streets of paris, to then assisting a hairdresser (who she may have had a child with), to being a companion to an elderly widow, assisting a milliner, to eventually becoming the mistress of one Jean-Baptiste du Barry, who would eventually help establish her career as a courtesan in Parisian high society.

Eventually reaching Versailles, she caught the eye of King Louis XV. Supposedly, he took to her so well and so often, it put the job of his maiden procurer in danger. Due to her status as a prostitute at the time, she could not be officially made the king's mistress, so she was made to marry Count Guillaume du Barry, Jean-Baptiste's older brother. With the ceremony, a false record was created, attributing Jeanne to having noble blood.

Her time in court was marked by both being an outcast, yet being a rather merciful person. There were several occasions of her acting on behalf of protecting someone from execution, mainly by begging the King to pardon them.

Eventually, King Louis XV died, and Louix XVI's reign led into the French Revolution. During said revolt, Jeanne was convicted of having aided those fleeing France to avoid execution, and was sentenced to execution herself. When presented before the Guillotine, she collapsed. When she was placed inside, her last words were, purportedly, "One more moment, Mr. Executioner, I beg you!"

This plate exists now as a reminder of this once outrageous woman who shocked French high society, and rose her way from nothing to the heights of luxury, at least for her time.