Bijoux Parisiens

Worn on a chain, this pendant presents at its center a woman embracing two children, symbolizing the Christian virtue of charity. Some of the gold structure has been decorated with enamel, which is made of ground glass and pigment that produce vivid color when fired in a kiln. French creators also worked in the typical Renaissance style of this German pendant, linking diverse elements together.

During the reign of Louis XV of France (1715–1774), his courtiers preferred jewelry marked by symmetry and shining white gems. In this piece imported from Portugal, semi-precious stones—quartz and tourmaline—replaced diamonds. Like Pouget’s engravings nearby, this brooch features ribbons, flowers, and pear-shaped drops.

In this necklace, the artist elegantly suspended a medallion depicting Athena, goddess of wisdom, from two swans, a symbol associated with Napoleon’s first wife, the Empress Joséphine. Bolstering his own empire, Napoleon I set a new taste for objects based on ancient Roman art. He especially adored antique cameos, small hardstones with figures carved in relief. This enamel plaque replicates a cameo design.

The restored monarchy and its court could more easily afford semi-precious stones, such as these amethysts imported from Brazil, than the much costlier rubies, emeralds, or diamonds. The creator of this jewelry set placed amethysts within wide frames of embossed and delicately chiseled gold, which he treated with economical milled edges.

In each of the linked gold medallions that compose this bracelet, finely worked silver busts emerge from emerald-green engraved enamel fields. Jules Wièse, the maker of this bracelet, drew inspiration from early Italian Renaissance sculptural busts. Wièse began his career as goldsmith for François-Désiré Froment-Meurice.

This necklace shows fine workmanship in the techniques of filigree (intricate patterns made from thin strands of metal) and hand-embossing (hammering out a design in relief). At the 1867 Universal Exposition in Paris, Eugène Fontenay won praise for Neo-Greek jewelry like this. In admiring and emulating the remarkable skill of ancient goldsmiths, Fontenay helped initiate the 19th-century archeological style.

This bracelet represents a joint product of the jeweler Eugène Fontenay and an enamellist, Eugène Richet. Venerating antiquity, they featured small painted enamel panels with scenes of an ancient Greek procession based on the Parthenon sculptures in Athens. Musicians lead the caravan, followed by the figure of Victory in a chariot—led by cherubs on leopards—and a bull to be sacrificed.

This Renaissance-revival necklace features an enamel portrait of Diane de Poitiers (1499–1566), the mistress of Henri II and an art patron in Renaissance France. Both the gold frame of this enamel portrait and the style of the chains allude to Renaissance models. Further, like Renaissance pendants, which often featured initial letters and monograms, this work intertwines enameled Hs and Ds in several places to indicate the lovers’ close connection.

The sections of this Gothic-revival bracelet recall the vertical spires of a High Gothic cathedral or picture frame. The 1825 opening of the Musée de Cluny, which housed spectacular medieval art, launched the Neo-Gothic style. A national effort to restore Gothic churches commenced in the 1840s and lasted through the century.

The exhibition “Bijoux Parisiens” has been produced by the Petit Palais, City of Paris Fine Arts Museum, Paris Musées, in cooperation with the Joslyn Art Museum in Omaha, Nebraska, with additional loans for this showing arranged by the Taft Museum of Art. This audio tour has been made possible through the generosity of the Docents of the Taft Museum of Art.