I took a French Quarter walking tour a couple weeks ago, and the tour guide recommended an antique store called M.S Rau. You won’t be able to afford anything, he said, but they’ll treat you like you can, and they have an Impressionist gallery.
I could go either way on antiques, but Impressionist art that people can just go buy? I want to see that.
M.S. Rau is a family-run (they started in 1912), 40,000-square-foot gallery of museum-quality items. It’s the kind of place that has its own gemologists and a research team to ensure authenticity. It’s a store full of Rembrandt, Monet, Tiffany, Chippendale, and Lalique. The jewelry section alone would have justified my visit to New Orleans. When I walked in the two women at the display case were expressing surprise that they let us in the store. Agreed.
The first thing I saw was this Harry Winston Golconda diamond necklace with a 38-carat stone. It once belonged to Jackie Kennedy’s stepdaughter, Christina Onassis.
This Rose Luster South Sea pearl necklace is made of 20-mm pink pearls and has a 5-carat diamond clasp at the back (a sphere encrusted with diamonds).
This one was probably my favorite. It’s Wallis Simpson’s Cartier-made tourmaline brooch.
I was wandering around thinking, “Private collectors probably don’t donate the good stuff to the museum.”
Found the Impressionists!
They also had a second fine art gallery.
Gustave-Max Stevens’s Pre-Raphaelite painting, The Twelve Princesses. The chess set in the foreground took 14,000 hours to make.
A collection of perfume bottles.
This Renaissance Cameo Pendant was made in the 1600s. It depicts Abraham’s sacrifice of Isaac. If you want to see more like it you’ll have to visit the Met.
The cane room.
It was a good end to the New Orleans portion of the trip, and one of the those moments that I hoped to have when I conceived of this trip in the first place. It was unlike anything I’ve seen before.
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