Ears of Wheat from the French Crown JewelsArchived Message
Posted by malluu on September 23, 2015, 8:52 pm
A beautiful ears of wheat tiara was featured in an article on The Jewellery Editor yesterday about a Chaumet pop-up museum in Paris. I've seen pictures of this tiara before but I never knew it's history before now. The caption says that the tiara was made in 1811 by Nitot (the caption says Chaumet but it really would have been Nitot) and that 150 ears of wheat were made for the French Crown Jewels. Does anyone else know anything else about the tiara or what was done with the rest of the ears of wheat?
From The Jewellery Editor
"Among the historical pieces on display is a wheat sheaf Chaumet tiara designed in 1811 for Empress Marie-Louise, Napoléon’s second wife. She commissioned Chaumet founder Marie-Etienne Nitot to create 150 bejewelled wheat stalks to form part of the Crown Jewels, which symbolised the modernity sweeping through the modern French Empire. However, it was Napoléon’s first wife, the legendary Joséphine de Beauharnais, who initially brought the neo-classical tiara back into fashion and, with it, the use of naturalistic motifs such as the sheaf of wheat."
From Blouin Art Info's interview with Beatrice de Plinval of Chaumet
"Around 1811, Marie-Étienne Nitot, the founder of what is today Maison Chaumet, created a sumptuous tiara for Empress Marie-Louise, Napoleon’s young bride, decorated with nine gently curved ears of wheat.
The Neoclassical asymmetric design with 60-caratsworth of diamonds mounted on silver and gold, mirrored the winds of modernity and change that were blowing through the French Empire, and was part of a commission of 150 ears of wheat to adorn her gown and hair, and which would become part of the French Crown Jewels."