History Class

300 extraordinary objects, one magnificent museum and an amazing story to tell. Chaumet transports us from modern-day China back to 18th-century Paris with its most extensive retrospective exhibition yet

- Kenny Loh

I have so much admiration for Chaumet. I am awed by how the Grand Salon, the Salon des Perles and the Salon des Diadèmes in the brand’s 12 Place Vendôme townhouse instantly take you back in time; I am awed by its founder Marie-Étienne Nitot’s importance in French history (did you know that he was Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte’s official jeweller?); and, most of all, I am awed by how amazingly well Chaumet has documented its past with the help of 56,000 gouaché drawings, 30,000 photographs and 550 tiaras.

So, when the maison announced a patrimonial exhibition – the second of its kind and the first outside Paris – which would gather more than 300 historical and contemporary precious objects from private collectors and top museums such as the Louvre, the Château de Fontainebleau and the Victoria & Albert, my interest was beyond piqued.