Moët & Chandon: Crémant Impérial

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Moët & Chandon: Crémant Impérial by Alphonse Mucha

A brunette stands beneath Moët & Chandon's name, dressed in a high-neck gown with elaborate jewellery. The local reproduction reads Crémant Impérial below her. The Mucha Foundation catalogues this related design as Dry Imperial, a 1899 Champenois colour lithograph with several versions; the Bibliothèque nationale de France separately records a 1899 legal deposit titled Grand Crémant Impérial. The titles point to a real catalogue and printed-wording question, not to a second artist or a different year.^[1][4]

At a Glance

• Printed local wordingCrémant Impérial
• Date1899; BnF legal deposit in 1899^[1][4]
• Mediumcolour lithograph^[1][4]
• PrinterF. Champenois, Paris^[1][4]
• Catalogued sheets60 × 20 cm at the Foundation; 64 × 25 cm at the BnF^[1][4]

Contents

1. A formal figure for an Imperial label
2. Crémant, Grand Crémant and Dry Imperial
3. Date, printer and sheet dimensions
4. Posters within a larger Moët commission
5. Reading the companion designs

A formal figure for an Imperial label

The woman's upright pose, covered neckline and prominent ornaments distinguish her from the bare-shouldered blonde in the White Star poster.^[2] A circular patterned area makes an elaborate background for her head. Curved panels at top and foot hold the company and product wording. The figure attracts attention, but the lettering tells a viewer which of Moët's champagnes is being promoted.^[1][2][5]

The Foundation explains that Mucha differentiated the dry champagne through a brunette wearing a high-neck dress and jewellery, set against the lighter White Star's pink-clad blonde. Poster House's exhibition text gives a closely related interpretation: the Imperial figure appears regal before a stained-glass-like field, whereas White Star suggests a springlike outdoor goddess. These are curatorial descriptions of advertising character. They do not document how a buyer actually judged either wine.^[1][2][5]

Crémant, Grand Crémant and Dry Imperial

The local reproduction's lower panel reads Crémant Impérial. The Foundation titles its related object Dry Imperial and explicitly says the poster exists in several versions. The BnF catalogue title is Moët & Chandon: Grand Crémant Impérial, while Poster House's exhibition archive transcribes Grand Crémant Impérial on its displayed pair. Those records make the Imperial vocabulary more than a local anomaly, but their titles cannot establish the exact physical state behind this site's reproduction.^[1][4][5]

A history published by the Union des Maisons de Champagne lists White Star, Grand Crémant Impérial and Dry Impérial as three Moët advertising versions associated with Mucha in 1899.^[9] That independently supports the three product names, while the Foundation describes the Imperial poster as existing in several versions.^[1] The trade-history list does not prove exactly three lithographic print states, establish their sequence or show whether any lower panels were exchanged. “Dry Imperial” remains the Foundation's title; the BnF's Grand Crémant and the local Crémant wordings must be attributed to their own records.^[1][4][5]

The Italian exhibition press kit prepared with the Mucha Foundation describes White Star and Imperial as two product lines and explicitly says Imperial was marketed under the three names Crémant Impérial, Dry Imperial and Grand Crémant Impérial.^[10] That account resolves the misleading possibility that the three names automatically imply three different figure designs. It does not specify how many stones, text panels or print runs Champenois used. An Aguttes auction description calls its 60.8 × 23 cm Dry Impérial sheet “variant no. 1” and says it repeats the drawing used for Grand Crémant Impérial.^[11] This is a cataloguer's description of one offered impression, valuable evidence for shared composition but not a complete catalogue of variants.

A contemporary advertisement supplies an earlier commercial date for two of the names. On 12 February 1895, Staudt & Co. listed Moët and Chandon's “White Star” and “Dry Imperial” in The Montevideo Times, alongside other champagnes.^[18] The advertisement gives merchant locations in Buenos Aires, Montevideo and Rosario. Thus the White Star and Dry Imperial labels were being offered together before Mucha's 1899 poster commission. The notice does not mention Mucha, Crémant Impérial or Grand Crémant Impérial; it cannot date their introduction or resolve the relationship among the later Imperial poster wordings.^[1][4][18]

Date, printer and sheet dimensions

The Foundation gives 1899, F. Champenois, Paris, and a 60 × 20 cm colour lithograph. The BnF's Grand Crémant notice gives 1899 legal deposit, the same printer and medium, and 64 × 25 cm. It cites Rennert and Weill's poster catalogue, number 65, as does the BnF's separate White Star notice. That shared bibliographic entry groups the paired campaign; it is not a measurement of this website's reproduction.^[1][4][6]

As with White Star, the modest size discrepancy cannot establish an edition by itself. A catalogued sheet can differ in extent through trimming or recording practice, and distinct impressions may exist. Without a documented comparison, the 60 × 20 cm and 64 × 25 cm figures should remain assigned to the Foundation and BnF respectively. The 1899 deposit securely places a named Imperial sheet in the library's record that year, but does not give a day of design or a complete production history.^[1][4]

Additional sale records show why sheet measurements need named witnesses. Christie's catalogued one Dry Imperial lithograph at 63 × 24 cm, backed on linen, and a separate paired White Star and Dry Impérial lot at 62 × 24 cm each, backed on board.^[12][13] Swann catalogued a White Star and Grand Crémant pair at about 62.25 × 24.75 cm each, noting condition and previous backing.^[14] These records document real marketed sheets with their own supports and margins. They do not tell us which Imperial wording was printed on the site's reproduction or whether any sheet was trimmed from a larger issue.

A 2008 Tajan sale catalogue provides a particularly detailed Dry Impérial witness: a 62.3 × 25 cm polychrome lithograph heightened with gold, printed by Champenois, with Mucha 99 signed in the plate and mounted on board. The cataloguer cites Rennert and Weill 65, variant 1, and notes wear to the gilding, moisture marks and small edge tears. Those physical details identify the offered sheet rather than all Imperial impressions. The variant number is Tajan's bibliographic attribution; the original Rennert and Weill entry still needs direct collation before treating its numbering as a complete sequence.^[15]

Posters within a larger Moët commission

The Foundation and Prague Mucha Museum both describe Mucha's work for Moët beyond these two posters, including menus, postcards and other advertising materials.^[1][3] The BnF catalogues four Champenois Moët menus, 21.5 × 14.5 cm, with 1898 legal deposit. Its separate 1901 postcard record describes ten Champenois cards, 14 × 9 cm, reproduced from ten Moët menus made in 1898. The four documents in the menu notice and the ten designs named by the postcard notice should not be silently equated. Neither notice identifies a postcard as a reproduction of this Imperial poster.^[16][17]

Reims's Musée des Beaux-Arts holds two separately catalogued 22 × 15 cm colour-lithographed menus with gold highlights, also naming Champenois. One, showing a woman with a glass, was used for an Épernay festival banquet on 17 September 1899; another, with a woman carrying a bottle and two glasses on a tray, is dated in use to 10 May 1900 at a Moët reception. The museum transcribes inscriptions and event dates on the objects. The catalogue text does not identify either Reims menu as one of the BnF's 1898 documents.^[7][8][16]

The menus and postcards demonstrate the range of Mucha's work for the client before and after the poster's 1899 legal deposit. The Reims inscriptions provide more exact event dates than the poster catalogues do. These small sheets are not established as variants of the Imperial poster: their recorded format and function differ. Their survival supports the Foundation's broader account of a campaign across formats, while leaving the print history of the Imperial poster unresolved.^{[1][4][7][8][16][17]}

Reading the companion designs

Beside White Star, this poster changes setting and social register. The White Star figure holds grapes outdoors; the Imperial figure is more formally dressed against elaborate ornament. The top company name unifies them, while their lower words and contrasting figures distinguish the products. This comparison reads Mucha's design choices without collapsing the two sheets or making unsupported claims about wine quality.^[1][2][5][6]

Start with the company name, follow the woman's jewellery and silhouette, then read the product words at the foot. For this route, Crémant Impérial remains the local wording; Grand Crémant Impérial names the BnF record; Dry Imperial names the Foundation entry. Keeping all three labels visible allows a reader to understand what is secure and what still needs an impression-level account.^[1][4][5]

Watch: Alphonse Mucha

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▶01 · Art Nouveau overviewAlphonse Mucha: Plongez dans l’Art nouveau !Grand Palais▶02 · Paris and designAlphonse Mucha: Art Nouveau in ParijsKunstmuseum Den Haag▶03 · GismondaAlfons Mucha: GismondaCzech Centre London

Frequently Asked Questions

References

1. Mucha Foundation, “Poster for ‘Moët & Chandon: Dry Imperial’ (1899),” object record and version note. View source.
2. Mucha Foundation, “Poster for ‘Moët & Chandon: Champagne White Star’ (1899),” related design. View source.
3. Mucha Museum, Prague, “Moët & Chandon,” exhibition text (Czech original; English translation). View source.
4. Bibliothèque nationale de France, Moët & Chandon: Grand Crémant Impérial, cb40461445q, 1899 legal deposit. View source.
5. Poster House, Alphonse Mucha: Art Nouveau/Nouvelle Femme, exhibition archive, p. 30. View source.
6. Bibliothèque nationale de France, Moët & Chandon: Champagne White Star, cb40461447d, separate 1899 poster. View source.
7. Musées de Reims, “Menu Champagne Moët & Chandon: jeune femme à la coupe,” inv. 2013.0.7. View source.
8. Musées de Reims, “Menu Champagne Moët & Chandon: jeune femme au plateau,” inv. 2013.0.8. View source.
9. Union des Maisons de Champagne, “Les arts plastiques et décoratifs,” campaign account naming White Star, Grand Crémant Impérial and Dry Impérial. Read account.
10. Ferrara Arte and Mucha Foundation, Italian exhibition press kit, advertising section, pp. 5–6. Press kit.
11. Aguttes, 2018 Dry Impérial lot 9, as reproduced in Lot-Art's auction listing; shared-drawing variant attribution. Lot record.
12. Christie's, Moët & Chandon: Dry Imperial, 63 × 24 cm, linen-backed colour lithograph. Lot record.
13. Christie's, Moët & Chandon: White Star & Dry Impérial, paired lithographs, 62 × 24 cm each. Lot record.
14. Swann Auction Galleries, paired Grand Crémant and White Star lithographs, lot 71, 2023. Lot record.
15. Tajan, Arts Décoratifs du XXe siècle, 6 November 2008, lot 94, Moët et Chandon Dry Impérial, p. 30. Sale catalogue.
16. Bibliothèque nationale de France, Menu. Champagne Moët et Chandon, cb40467832x, four menu documents deposited in 1898. Catalogue record.
17. Bibliothèque nationale de France, [Moët et Chandon]: cartes postales, cb404678291, ten postcards deposited in 1901. Catalogue record.
18. The Montevideo Times, 12 February 1895, p. 3, Staudt & Co. champagne advertisement listing Moët and Chandon, White Star and Dry Imperial. Digitised newspaper.

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