About the Author:

Curator in the department of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, Sophie Motsch has collaborated on numerous exhibitions, including Van Cleef & Arpels: The Art of High Jewelry (2012), The Secrets of French Lacquer: Vernis Martin (2014), Unbuttoning Fashion (2015), Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams (2017) and Hair and Hairs (2023). Specializing in the history of luxury, collectors and their collections, she participated in the collective work The Rothschilds: A Dynasty of Patrons in France (2016) and curated the exhibition Not Afraid: Collection of the Baroness Henri de Rothschild (Bemberg Foundation, 2018). She is also the author of Chaumet: Crown Jewels (Assouline, 2018). Sophie Motsch continues to research beauty and wardrobe accessories, perfume, buttons and eighteenth-century art objects. 

Specializing in the history of architecture, interior decor and art objects from the French and European eighteenth century, Emmanuel Sarméo was awarded the Bruno Pons prize in 2015 for his doctoral thesis on "The Fireplace and Its Decoration During the Reign of Louis XVI.” He devoted considerable research to and published his discoveries on the decorations of the Palace of Versailles, in particular the apartments of Marie-Antoinette. He also collaborated on the exhibition Pierre Gouthière: Virtuoso Gilder at the French Court at the Frick in 2016 and took part in the 2018 international conference François- Joseph Bélanger (1744–1818): Architecture and Society of the Ancien Régime in the Restoration. He is currently preparing a work on interior decoration of the second half of the eighteenth century.