In a factory in Mortagne-au-Perche, a town on a hill in Normandy, northwestern France, a wax bust of Napoleon is having its underside smoothed on a hotplate, its bicorn blasted with an air gun. Watching from shelves are several Marie Antoinettes in shades of pink, grey and ivory, and a navy-blue Louis XIV, his periwig curling past his shoulders, a cotton wick protruding from his head.

“These decorative pieces speak to our history in the courts of French kings and queens,” says Julien Pruvost, creative director of artisan candle maker Trudon, the oldest wax manufacturer in the world. “They symbolise our status as a living heritage company, the modern expression of centuries-old know how.”