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THE MAGAZINE UPCOMING AUCTIONS
20 March
By Chaumet, 1908
Some jewellery really fires the imagination and carries it
away...This is the case with tiaras, where jewellers not
only pull out all the technical stops, but also express their
unbridled inventiveness. One Paris company, Chaumet,
has long been famous for these head ornaments, worn
during official festivities or weddings. Béatrice de Plinval,
director of the Musée Chaumet, found the order for this
diadem (to be sold on 20 March in Paris by Beaussant-
Lefèvre) in the company archives; it was placed in 1908
by a great aristocratic French family for a wedding. Again
according to the company's sources, the model was
produced in three versions with slight variants, like the
addition of small graded rubies around certain
diamonds. The original design had a larger diamond set
as a pendant in the centre. The Musée Chaumet has kept
all the designs for these nuptial and ceremonial pieces,
together with their nickel silver replicas: an obligatory
stage before they were actually made, when customers
finalised the choice of stones and details in the motifs.
Béatrice de Plinval also stresses the exceptional skill of
the Chaumet jewellers for "trembling" motifs mounted
on invisible springs. The use of delicate carnation leaves
in this model is reminiscent of Josephine's tiara, embellished
with wind-blown ears of wheat. And in fact, the
28 GAZETTE DROUOT INTERNATIONAL I N° 23
Chaumet. Openwork platinum diadem
decorated with carnations and foliage
entirely set with antique cut diamonds,
fourteen of a larger size; 1908.
Weight of principal diamonds:
from around 1 to 3 ct.
Estimate: €120,000/150,000.
origins of this company in the Place Vendôme go back to
the last years of the Revolution, when Marie-Étienne
Nitot, a jeweller established in Rue Saint-Honoré,
attracted the attention of Napoleon Bonaparte. Napoleon's
passion for Josephine, who loved jewellery, led
him to commission jewellery sets for his beloved from
Nitot, whom he then made his official jeweller. Nitot also
made the consular sword set with one of the crown
jewels, the famous "Régent", a diamond of 140 carats
now in the Louvre. At the time Antiquity was in fashion,
so Josephine adopted the diadem: a symbol of imperial
power. This had a humble origin, designating the white
wool ribbon surrounding the tiara of the Kings of Persia.
The taste of the new Empress meant that all the ladies of
the court wanted to wear the same thing... Nitot, and
from 1885, Joseph Chaumet, became celebrated
suppliers of the tiara, which became the ultimate in feminine
finery. The Chaumet workshops produced some
three thousand of them! Designs reflected the taste of
the times, from the naturalism of Art Nouveau to the
geometrical motifs of Art Deco. Some display genuine
technical feats, like one with aigrettes set with precious
stones. Could a man in love dream up a more beautiful
present? Anne Foster
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