Story: looking for lost maharaja
He was there, floating a little away, in the living room of honor of the Grand Palais.Around him, the thousands of carats of the most impressive collection of jewelry in the world-that of the emirs of Qatar, the Al-Thani-exhibited in Paris in spring 2017: Indian treasures, ornaments of turbans and ankle bracelets in gold and diamonds, emeralds engraved with verses from the Koran, swords and daggers...And there, a young man fixed me.Sitting on a white sofa and wearing a parma turban, simply sporting a double row of pearls and two diamonds the size of an egg each, the Maharaja of Indore - as the box specified - seemed to float in the dark andLook at all of this, the air of saying: "No more.»»
The table dates from 1933.He is signed Bertrand Boutet de Monvel, a worldly painter and fashion illustrator.Sold at auction in April 2016, the canvas flew to more than 2 million euros, exploding all estimates.Obviously, I was not the only one who Yeshwant Rao Holkar II had caught the eye: Man Ray and Saint Laurent, Harry Winston, Brancusi, Eileen Gray, the fine flower of the decorative arts, Henri-Pierre Roché (theAuthor of *Jules and Jim), *Richard Avedon and a wealthy Emir esthete were soon finding their place in a delirious galaxy of elegance, avant-garde and insane means.
Stéphane-Jacques Addade, author of the reference biography on Boutet de Monvel, was the first to confirm it to me.The preparatory drawings and the painter's models line its elegant apartment, close to the Monceau park.He made me discover another canvas, from 1929, which represents Maharaja in evening clothes, as well as two portraits of his wife, a teenage beauty to ignite Hollywood.“Tables in ceremonial clothes were exhibited in New York in 1934 at Wildenstein.The public was delusional;The queue, insane.The youth of the couple, the precisionism of Boutet de Monvel, Soft exoticism...Quite a sensation, he explains to me.What is amazing is the accuracy of the choices of Maharaja, its visionary dimension.He may have barely 20 years old, all his choices seem to be good.»»
Comment ce jeune homme venu du continent indien a-t-il atterri dans l’atelier du peintre, au fond d’un passage du VIIe arrondissement ? « Le maharaja d’Indore est l’archétype du dandy oriental, plus encore que les autres maharajas qui, à l’époque, fréquentaient Paris, la ville où la jet-set du monde entier se retrouvait»», soutient Béatrice de Plinval.Former director of the heritage of Chaumet, this expert from the Arcana of Place Vendôme (it is even suspected that she would have the keys to the column) agreed to receive me to talk about the two diamonds of the table.My impression was right: these stones went well through the jeweler's workshops.While we cross the lounge classified from the first floor, I ask him how we received, at the time, these kinds of characters. « Exactement de la même manière que nous vous recevons»», s’amuse-t-elle.She returned to the first trips of Joseph Chaumet in India in 1910, the wealthy Maharajas of Baroda and Kapurthala who made the fortune of the Parisian jewelers, on their preference for Champagne Veuve Cliquot... Puis, preuves photographiques à l’appui, elle me raconte comment les « poires d’Indore»», ces deux diamants de Golconde d’environ 47 carats chacun, ont été montées chez Chaumet en 1913 pour Tukoji, le père de notre maharaja. Les commandes au nom du « maharaja d’Indore»» s’échelonnent sur une vingtaine d’années, sans qu’il soit toujours possible de distinguer s’il s’agit du père ou du fils.More or less intermittent Parisians, the two men were very similar. Tandis que je lui fais part de ma confusion, Béatrice de Plinval suggère de rencontrer « Richard»».Richard?"Yes, Prince Richard Holkar, the son of Maharaja of the painting.He is a very good friend, a man who lives between Paris, the United States and Maheshwar, the cradle of the dynasty.If he comes, I will warn you.We will drink a cup of champagne.»» Arrivé avec un maharaja et deux diamants en tête, je repars avec trois générations et des images de dizaines de bijoux.
