EXHIBITION: the Chaumet legend narrated through the story of Joséphine and Napoléon

For the bicentenary of Napoleon Bonaparte’s death, Chaumet has opened its private salons to the public to present its exhibition “Joséphine and Napoléon, an (extra)ordinary story” until July 18, 2021.

Head over to the prestigious hôtel particulier located at 12 place Vendôme and immerse yourself in the parallel history of a legendary couple – Joséphine de Beauharnais and Napoléon Bonaparte – and of the Parisian fine jeweler Chaumet. During your trip through the seven salons – including the Chopin Salon, a listed historical monument – you will turn back time to explore a narrative combining jewelry and French History.

Curated by Pierre Branda, historian and Head of Heritage at the Fondation Napoléon, this free exhibition (subject to booking) gathers over 150 exceptional works, a third of which are shown to the public for the first time. You will discover various art objects, pieces of jewelry, paintings, letters and graphic art documents from Chaumet’s heritage collection, private collectors and cultural institutions such as the Louvre Museum, the Château de Fontainebleau as well as the National Museum of the Châteaux de Malmaison.

We were lucky enough to discover the exhibition with the fascinating jewelry historian Michèle Heuzé as our guide, who shared her knowledge and several anecdotes about the imperial couple with us.

The birth of a passionate love story

Joséphine, born Marie Josèphe Rose Tascher de la Pagerie in Martinique, was the mother of two children, Eugène and Hortense, and widow of Alexandre de Beauharnais, guillotined during the French Revolution, when she met the young Corsican general Napoléon Bonaparte. It was love at first sight and the start of a passionate affair between the two lovers, who promptly decided to get married. On March 9, 1796, the day of the wedding, Napoleon gave his wife, whom he renamed “Joséphine”, a black enamel ring engraved with the words “Au destin” (“To destiny”), a true symbol of his love. Note that this was the civil marriage – the religious marriage did not take place until 1804 in the Tuileries chapel, and was organized urgently as it was necessary before the coronation!

Shortly after the wedding, Napoléon left Paris for his Italian campaign and thus initiated an epistolary relationship with his wife. You will have the opportunity to decipher these ardent love letters during your visit and delve into the couple’s intimacy…

« I wake filled with thoughts of you. Your portrait and the intoxicating evening which we spent yesterday have left my senses in turmoil. Sweet incomparable Josephine, what a strange effect you have on my heart! […] Until then, mio dolce amor, a thousand kisses; but give me none in return, for they set my blood on fire. »
Excerpt from a letter from Napoléon to Joséphine (1795)

Joséphine, Napoléon, Chaumet: three destinies closely tied together

Before taking the name of Joseph Chaumet at the end of the 19^th century, the Maison bore the names of the foremen who preceded him. It is actually Marie-Étienne Nitot, former apprentice to Marie Antoinette’s jeweler at the Court of Versailles and gemstone specialist, who founded the Maison in 1780. The latter became, in addition to the privileged witness of the story of the couple, Napoleon’s official jeweler, thus marking the starting point of the Chaumet legend…

Among the countless orders that Napoleon placed with Nitot are the famous “acrostic” jewels he gifted to Josephine (as well as his mother, his sister, and later his second wife Marie-Louise). This type of jewelry uses the first letter of each gemstone to spell out messages. Thus, the Empress received two bracelets spelling out the first names of her two children, Hortense and Eugène: Hessonite, Opal, Ruby, Turquoise, Emerald, Nicolo, Sapphire, Emerald for Hortense and Emerald, Uniaxial crystal, Garnet, Emerald, Nicolo, Emerald for Eugene. These poetic and playful jewels hold emotional value and are true memory keepers, as the immortality of the gems crystallize the eternity of the message of love. Chaumet has in fact reinvented them through time to perpetuate this tradition.

In 1804, the two spouses were crowned Emperor and Empress of the French. Nitot set the sumptuous Coronation Sword, on which he placed the Régent – a legendary 140.5-carat diamond.

After the coronation, Napoleon commissioned Nitot to make a tiara to thank Pope Pius VII for his presence. Marie-Étienne’s son François-Regnault Nitot was in charge of bringing the sumptuous gift to the Pope when he stopped by Milan and met the Empress, who immediately fell in love with Nitot’s creations. She made him her official jeweler, thus boosting the Maison’s reputation.

Later, Nitot made a broadsword for the Emperor reusing the dismantled gemstones of the sword, including the Régent.

“Our Maison has become the much-envied jeweler of the imperial court. The Emperor has decreed it: ‘One only recognizes the jewelry of Monsieur Nitot’, he told his court officials…”
Marie-Étienne Nitot (Palais des Tuileries, summer 1809)

Joséphine, Empress of style

From her native island, Joséphine retained her love for nature and botany, which she nurtured at the Château de Malmaison. Her greenhouse gathered the largest collection of plants in Paris at the time. In the cozy Joséphine Salon, which showcases her exotic world, you will find various objects reflecting this passion, such as herbaria.

Charmed by Nitot’s naturalistic jewels, she commissioned the latter to make a tiara decorated with ears of wheat set with diamonds and, like an “influencer” of the time, started a tiara trend. This head jewel is what made Nitot rise to fame, and soon the workshop was flooded with orders from the court. Tiaras are the ultimate symbol of majesty and are still Chaumet’s specialty nowadays.

You will have the chance to admire Chaumet’s prestigious historical collections in the “Salon des diadèmes”, with hundreds of tiara models made of nickel silver on the wall.

The independent and powerful Joséphine possessed an impressive collection of jewelry pieces, to the extent that she could match her jewelry to the tone of the room she was in – a true fashion icon! As you continue your visit, you will notice that the Empress particularly loved pearls and intaglios. Her jewelry sets consist of at least a comb, a necklace, earrings and bracelets in pairs.

“Her collections of gemstones are so extensive that she can choose between milky green opal, pink tourmaline, white mother-of-pearl, deep blue lapis lazuli or paler blue turquoise.”
Marie-Étienne Nitot (Château de Malmaison, April 1807)

Eternal passion

As Joséphine was unable to produce an heir, the couple was forced to dissolve their marriage in 1809 to satisfy the interests of France. And yet, it was the offspring of the former Empress who later ascended the throne – Napoleon III, son of Hortense de Beauharnais and Louis Bonaparte, Napoleon’s younger brother.

The same year, François-Regnault Nitot took over the workshop of his father Marie-Étienne, who had passed away a few months earlier, in order to honor the orders of the Emperor and his new wife, Marie-Louise. The last salon of the exhibition showcases several jewels from the rest of the Bonaparte family as well as other royal families, thus extending the journey through the bejeweled history of Europe.

At the end of the Empire in 1815, François-Regnault passed on the Maison to its foreman Jean-Baptiste Fossin, who continued to foster its success.

“The extraordinary story that began under the Revolution knows no end. Very much the opposite. Joséphine and Napoléon still reign supreme, their majesty is eternal.”
François-Regnault Nitot (Place Vendôme, December 1852)

A legendary jeweler rooted in French History, Chaumet continues to promote the eternal and transcendent passion of the imperial couple through timeless creations, such as the new “Torsade” collection unveiled during Haute Couture Week.