Ceremonial goldsmiths’ work and small luxury objects

On this tour, the curator André Afonso presents some of the masterpieces of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century French goldsmiths’ work that so fascinated Calouste Gulbenkian. Made by the great Parisian goldsmiths for Europe’s monarchs and aristocrats, these pieces bear witness to the luxury of the ceremonial table at the courts of the day and to its importance as a strategy for displaying power. Small luxury objects, too, revealed the standing of their owners. Snuffboxes, nécessaires and other accessories circulated conspicuously in the pockets of the elite, testifying to the social codes of the age. After several years in storage, a group of gold boxes returns to the galleries of the Gulbenkian Museum, allowing visitors, in the second part of the tour, to learn more about how they were made, what they meant and what they were for.