And in 1881 appointed to the Académie des Beaux-Arts. In 1896 he became Art Director of the Manufacture nationale de Sèvres. In 1900 a Commander of the Légion d'honneur.
Chaplain was responsible for the official portraits of every president of the French Republic. From Patrice de Mac-Mahon, duc de Magenta. In 1877 to Émile Loubet. He also received the commission for engraving the gold coinage of France, and his official gold medal commemorating the 1896 visit of Czar Nicholas II of Russia. Was called a masterpiece and one of the finest ever struck.
Chaplain died in Paris 1909. His grave is in the Montparnasse Cemetery.