Big in Japan: Les Mondes de Chaumet

published 18 July 2018

Les Mondes de Chaumet (The Worlds of Chaumet), an ambitious exhibition detailing the history of this most Parisian of heritage jewellers is currently taking over the Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum in Tokyo, Japan. The museum makes for an intriguing setting to celebrate the savoir faire that takes place at Chaumet's flagship boutique on Place Vendôme, and its centuries-strong relationship with the Land of the Rising Sun.

After graduating with a degree in architecture from the University of London, and following a two-year stint working with Gothic revivalist William Burges, 19th century architect Josiah Conder accepted a teaching position at Tokyo's Imperial College of Engineering. Arriving in Japan in 1877, the young architect's career reached new heights across the Pacific Ocean, as Conder was charged with redeveloping Tokyo's central Marunouchi area into a modern business centre, inspired by his British hometown.

Today, the restored Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum is a reminder of Conder's ambitious five-year project: measuring just three storeys, the European style red-brick and cast concrete building looks delightfully incongruous against a futuristic backdrop of glass-fronted skyscrapers. Its 20 exhibition rooms have welcomed works by Édouard Manet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Leonardo da Vinci, while previous exhibitions have been held in conjunction with the Musée d'Orsay, Paris and Madrid's Prado. The museum is also home to the collection of Maurice Joyant; the influential French gallerist's estate includes 250 graphic works by his close friend Henri Toulouse-Lautrec, the bon-vivant chronicler of Belle Époque Paris.

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Few luxury brands can match Chaumet's aristocratic lineage: Marie-Étienne Nitot, a former apprentice to Queen Marie-Antoinette's court jeweller Aubert, established the house in 1870. In 1802, Nitot was appointed official jeweller to Napoleon I; the maison's subsequent clients have included Louis-Philippe, King of France, Queen Victoria and Spain's King Alfonso XIII, who presented the future Queen Ena (née Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg) with a Chaumet turquoise fleur-de-lys tiara to commemorate their engagement in 1906.

Les Mondes de Chaumet is divided thematically and grouped in sets designed by Bureau Betak; the tiara section displays 200 prototypes alongside priceless finished models. Densely grouped, the display reveals both the virtuosity of Chaumet's craftsmen and the beguiling history behind each piece. "Chaumet has always been a choice of distinction", says Jean-Marc Mansvelt, who was appointed as CEO in early 2015.

There is the Gramont tiara: completed in 1904, the foliage-and-stems creation dazzles with nine large pear- and three large square-cut diamonds. The gem is named after the Duke of Gramont, who designed the piece as a gift to his son Armand's fiancé Élaine, the only daughter of society hostess and arts patron Countess Greffulhe. Both mother and daughter acted as inspiration for two of Marcel Proust's fictional characters.

Other pioneering creations include a pair of platinum and deep-blue enamel wings set with more than 1,300 diamonds – a piece inspired by the winged helmets of Wagner's flying Valkyries and by Joseph Chaumet in 1910 for Getrude Vanderbilt. An altogether different type of tiara is on loan from the Vatican: to honour his attendance at the Notre-Dame de Paris coronation ceremony in 1804, Napoleon I presented Pope Pius VII with a special tiara designed by Marie-Etienne Nitot and his son Francois Regnault, crafted by the maison's goldsmith Henry Auguste.

That jewellery can be more than the sum of its carats is encapsulated by a display of rare creations designed and assembled to commemorate special occasions. For his wedding to Mathilde de La Ferte in 1970, Sir Valentine Abdy ordered a naturalistic design imagining a deep-sea octopus cast in frosted rock crystal holding tight to a seaweed garland, with two tentacles stretched across a sparkling Rubellite stone. Others conceal secret messages of love and affection, such as a trio of 1810 acrostic bracelets that once belonged to Empress Marie-Louise. Set in a line, the initials of the bracelets' precious stones compose names and significant dates, including the date when Napoleon first set eyes on the future Empress.

As Les Mondes de Chaumet reveals, the relationship between the Parisian jeweller and Japan has been a longstanding one: the Eastern nation's rich artistic heritage inspired Chaumet's design team, while a growing Japanese clientele turned to the marque for high-quality gems. "To be successful in Japan for any brand is extremely meaningful", explains Mansvelt. "It's a guarantee of the [standards of] excellence you set for yourself". One such client is the Marquise Kikuko Maeda, the wife of the military attaché of the Japanese Embassy in London who was officially presented to the Royal Court in 1929. The Marquise entered Buckingham palace in a white beaded dress with matching train – both adhering to court etiquette – crowned with a Chaumet Art Deco style tiara.