Legend has it that Louis XVI commissioned a lavish 65-piece Sèvres porcelain set for Marie Antoinette’s pleasure dairy, L’Hameau de la Reine. Among the pieces were four jatte-téton — breast-shaped milk bowls supposedly modeled from the Queen’s own bosom. These whimsical vessels, designed for sipping milk in the Queen’s rustic fantasy farm, became symbols of royal excess and further fueled her image as a decadent monarch fond of throwing wild parties in her rustic hamlet at Versailles. While there was a typical working dairy on the property, there was also a laiterie d’agrément or pleasure dairy. This pleasure dairy, to the displeasure of the poor commoners, was a beautifully appointed salon decorated in all white marble and other excess where Marie and her ladies-in-waiting could dress up as milkmaids and frolic all day  — without ever having to get their hands or perfectly coiffed hairstyles dirty! This maddened the less fortunate working class.

From this myth grew the even juicier rumor: that the classic Champagne coupe was modeled after Marie Antoinette’s left breast. Since there were only four breast bowls created to drink from, those hoping to perpetuate the myth of the depraved courtesan seized upon the idea that she wanted her court to toast her health by drinking from Champagne coupes molded from her breast instead. While portraits of the Queen do show her with small, round curves much like the shape of the coupe, the truth is far less scandalous.

Since there were only four breast bowls created to drink from, those hoping to perpetuate the myth of the depraved courtesan seized upon the idea that she wanted her court to toast her health by drinking from Champagne coupes molded from her breast instead. Although portraits show Marie Antoinette’s breasts as small and round, like the Champagne coupe, the petite glass was actually designed by a Benedictine monk and made in England around 1663 — over 100 years before her birth!. There is, in fact, no truth to any of the rumors! That they still persist, however, speaks volumes to the perceived sexiness of the famous (or infamous) coupe glass. It was, after all, the Champagne vessel of choice in Europe for nearly 300 years before becoming insanely popular in the United States with the likes of flapper girls and Hollywood royalty. Sophia Loren, Marilyn Monroe, Eva St. Marie, Joan Fontaine, Cary Grant, and Humphrey Bogart are just a few of the many famed celebrities filmed or photographed with a coupe glass in hand.