Marie-Étienne Nitot
Marie-Étienne Nitot (Paris, April 2, 1750 – Paris, September 9, 1809) was a French goldsmith and jeweler. Appointed as the official jeweler of Napoleon Bonaparte, he founded the jewelry business that would eventually evolve into the prestigious Chaumet brand.[1]
Biography
Nitot was born in Paris in 1750 to a family originally from Château-Thierry. After apprenticing under Aubert, the court jeweler to Queen Marie Antoinette of Austria, he moved to Paris in 1780.[2]
He survived the French Revolution and, in 1802, was appointed as the official jeweler to Emperor Napoleon. With the help of his son, François Regnault (1779–1853), Nitot created a series of jewels designed to symbolize the power that Napoleon wished to project.[3] Among these were the wedding jewels of Empress Josephine de Beauharnais and Marie Louise of Austria. Nitot also designed the crown used in Napoleon's coronation, his ceremonial sword, and many other court adornments.
He also played an active role, alongside his son, in rebuilding the French Crown Treasury (Trésor de la Couronne), which had been dismantled and dispersed during and after the French Revolution. He was Napoleon's exclusive supplier of precious stones.
Marie-Étienne Nitot passed away in 1809. His son, François Regnault Nitot, succeeded him, continuing the jewelry house until the fall of the empire in 1815,[4] when the business was sold to his foreman, Jean-Baptiste Fossin (1786–1848).
Work
As Napoleon's official jeweler, Nitot crafted several important pieces. He designed the Napoleon Tiara and the Imperial Sword. He also created the Cameo Tiara for Empress Josephine before 1810; however, no portrait of the Empress wearing it exists (only a portrait of her daughter, Hortense de Beauharnais, from 1812 shows the cameo). Marie-Étienne Nitot also designed the entire emerald parure for Josephine, which today belongs to the Norwegian Royal Family.[5]
The Leuchtenberg Sapphire Parure, part of the jewelry foundation of the Swedish Royal Family, is also attributed to Nitot. These sapphires are believed to have been a wedding gift from Napoleon to his stepdaughter, Augusta of Bavaria, Duchess of Leuchtenberg, later inherited by Queen Josephine of Leuchtenberg of Sweden.[6]
References
- ↑ https://www.chaumet.com/our-maison/milestones
- ↑ https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie-%C3%89tienne_Nitot#cite_ref-2
- ↑ Henri Vever, La bijouterie française au XIXe siècle (1800–1900), 1976, p.46
- ↑ Nouvelles acquisitions du Département des objets d'art du Musée du Louvre, 2003
- ↑ https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie-%C3%89tienne_Nitot#cite_ref-5
- ↑ https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie-%C3%89tienne_Nitot#cite_ref-6