Wouldn’t it be nice to arrive at a party with a tiara on your head, the way Catherine the Great, Joséphine Bonaparte, and Queen Victoria once did? One can only dream—and with the treasures on view in this exhibition, one can dream in detail. Exploring the long-entwined relationship between power and jewelry, the show brings together pieces from London’s Victoria and Albert Museum and the Al Thani art collection, many of them never before shown in France. Circlets and diadems, sapphires and emeralds, the opulence is palpable, revealing how Europe’s royal courts turned adornment into a language of authority and wealth. Let’s just hope this Parisian jewel show doesn’t get the Louvre treatment. —Jeanne Malle