Champagne Coupes and the Art of Doing Nothing

Before choosing what to pour into it, I am usually more interested in the glass itself. A champagne coupe is one of those objects that can be appreciated for its shape alone, before it is even used.

Its shallow, rounded bowl is also at the centre of one of the most persistent legends surrounding champagne glasses: that the coupe was modelled on a woman’s breast. Marie Antoinette and Madame de Pompadour have both been credited with inspiring its shape, although the story is almost certainly untrue.

The champagne coupe existed long before either woman could have inspired it, but the association between its curves and the female body has proved much harder to abandon. Perhaps the legend simply suited the glass too well.

For me, the coupe belongs perfectly to those moments when there is time to sit, talk, read or simply do very little, alone or in good company.

With love,
Madame.