Bijoux Parisiens, The Exhibition
From Cartier to Boucheron, from Lalique to Van Cleef & Arpels, the exhibition 'Bijoux Parisiens: French Jewelry from the Petit Palais, Paris' presents at the Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens in Jacksonville, Florida, the evolution and refinement of French jewellery throughout the Ancien Régime and beyond the historical period known as the “Empire”. The exhibition, which will be open until Sunday, January 7th, boasts over 50 works of jewelry and over 150 photographs, drawings, fashion prints and paintings and traces the changes and shifts in French taste for jewelry and luxury. Among the incredible creations shown at the Cummer Museum there are pieces from before the time of Louis XIV through World War II.
The exhibition shows, for example, how the widespread presence of precious stones from India and Persia in France during the reign of Louis XIV created an explosion of Rococo designs in jewelry. But then, after Napoleon’s 1870 defeat against Prussia, conservative elites encouraged a return of Gothic styles in luxury and decorative arts. By examining the constant evolution of the aesthetics of French jewellery and its interactions with the Parisian artist, the exhibition offers an invaluable insight on the French art of beauty and elegance.
