The French jewelry house Chaumet has been carving its path in complete harmony with nature for nearly 250 years.
The goldsmiths from Place Vendôme draw inspiration from the sun piercing the clouds, turbulent streams, and the silver frost glistening on tree branches. Chaumet’s jewelry collection Le Jardin (The Garden) is a tribute to all things growing and blooming. The 68 pieces of jewelry depict various plants with striking naturalism. A 12-carat blue Ceylon sapphire cushion sparkles in a chrysanthemum ring, while its matching ring features diamond petals encircling a 15.6-carat yellow-orange sapphire, also from Ceylon. The “tulip” necklace features a red spinel weighing over 10 carats glowing on a diamond chain, surrounded by mandarin garnets. The Iris transformable necklace features iris petals adorned with a mosaic of pink-hued stones: spinels and sapphires.
However, admiring blossoms and gathering bouquets isn’t limited to just the garden. A section of the jewelry collection pays homage to woodland plants. The Gui necklace is designed as a double twisted ribbon of mistletoe stems with elongated leaves. Tiny pearls symbolizing the shrub’s fruit can be seen in the diamond radiance, and at the center shines a massive transparent Colombian cushion-cut emerald weighing 21.59 carats.
Another inhabitant of the forest is the fern. Its slender, narrow leaves are expertly crafted from white gold, and the diamond setting combines two types of mountings to create the illusion of dewdrops. The Fougère parure includes eight items, among them a necklace, earrings, a brooch, a tiara, and a ring adorned with a large, clean 5-carat diamond. The brooch can be transformed from a shoulder clip to a hairpin, and the earrings feature detachable diamonds that add variety.
The wheat ear motif plays an important part in Chaumet’s royal legacy: Empress Josephine wore a tiara resembling wind-swayed ears of wheat, and Napoleon’s second wife, Marie-Louise, also favored jewelry with wheat ear designs. This time, Chaumet’s wheat ear has ripened and is literally ready to rain diamonds, while the “wheat” headpiece appears delicate and lacy. The grand necklace is based on a V-shaped platinum structure adorned with diamonds, on which a precious harvest of wheat ears and a massive colorless flawless stone weighing 10.25 carats are affixed. In the ring, a mature wheat ear wraps around a 5-carat transparent Asscher-cut diamond.
Photo: press office.
