With China the world’s biggest market for luxury, the time has come for an exhibition of more than 200 royal and historic jewels spanning 400 years. “These treasures of human civilization signify the pinnacle of artisanal skills of their time,” Alex Fan, curator of the exhibition, told Sotheby’s in December 2019. “This is the first exhibition of historic Western jewelry of this calibre entirely curated by a Chinese team.” Each piece has a history. When was it made? By whom? And for whom? What hands has it passed through until now? Among the beauties on view is a natural pearl and diamond pendant that belonged to Marie-Antoinette, and a gold laurel leaf plucked from Napoleon Bonaparte’s coronation coronet. —L.J.