Chaumet Drawing from Nature - Hardcover

Rio, Gaëlle; Jeanson, Marc

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0500023816 ISBN 13: 9780500023815

Publisher: Thames and Hudson Ltd, 2023

Synopsis

A dazzling celebration of the nature-themed drawings created by Parisian high-jewelry house Chaumet from the 18th century to today

About this title

About the Author

Gaëlle Rio is Director of the Musée de la Vie Romantique in Paris. She specializes in 19th-century art and in her previous position at the Petit Palais curated a number of exhibitions, including ‘French Jewelry from the Petit Palais’, ‘The Art of Pastel, from Degas to Redon' and 'Paris 1900'. Marc Jeanson is former director of the National Herbarium at the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle in Paris. He is currently the Botanical Director of the Jardin Majorelle in Marrakesh, Morocco.

From the Back Cover

A stunning celebration of the ravishing nature-themed drawings created by Parisian high-jewelry house Chaumet from the 18th century to today.

One of the most storied high-jewelry houses in Paris, Chaumet has been entwined with the history of France ever since its founding in 1780. Appointed official jeweler to Empress Josephine, the house has passed down its unique savoir-faire for almost 240 years. Each generation of Chaumet jewelers has looked to the natural world as a key source of inspiration, dreaming up ruby orchids, delicate laurel-wreath tiaras, striking diamond starbursts and a beguiling array of animals – from birds and butterflies to snakes and octopuses – on necklaces, brooches and head-pieces.

Drawings were used not only to research and develop ideas, revealing little-known aspects of the creative process of jewelry design, but also to present fully conceptualized bespoke pieces to clients, tempting them to place an order. These beautiful and inventive drawings – many of which are published here for the first time – are presented in thematic chapters (‘Flowers’, ‘Trees and Plants’, ‘Bestiary’, ‘Universe’), while essays by curator Gaëlle Rio offer a concise art-historical perspective.

A visually fascinating compendium, this unique book will delight all lovers of jewelry, art and nature.

Edition details

• Publisher: Thames and Hudson Ltd
• Publication date: 2023
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0500023816
• ISBN 13: 9780500023815
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 256