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Like many of the most famous jewelry houses, Maison Boivin has its roots in the 19th Century. By the time Rene Boivin established his workshop in 1890, he was already known as one of the most talented young jewelers in Paris. From the beginning, he shunned the mainstream ideas of jewelry design in favor of a more eclectic vision. Exploring new motifs and materials, he created the jewels in precious materials, but also enjoyed the freedom of color provided by semi-precious gems. It is this sense of adventure and creativity that established Rene Boivin as the jeweler of the intellectual elite.
Upon Boivin's death in 1917, his wife, Jeanne Boivin, sister of couturier Paul Poiret, made the then unlikely decision to maintain the firm. Like her husband, she was drawn to colored stones, using imaginative color combinations to create magnificent jewels. Under Jeanne Boivin, Maison Boivin produced jewelry that appeals not only to the eye but also to the touch, with surprising movement and textures not to be found anywhere else.
Their youngest daughter, Germaine Boivin, inherited her parents' innate sense of style and fantasy. Having trained in her uncle Paul Poiret's workshop designing clothing and accessories, she developed a feeling for fine materials, color and volume. A virtuoso designer, she turned her attention to jewelry in the 1920's, and although she became increasingly involved with Maison Boivin, she did not assume control of the business until her mother's death in 1959.
This brooch, designed by Germaine for her mother's 80th birthday, is cleverly fitted with a series of folding plaques bearing the names of designers, master jewelers, and business people who worked most closely with Rene and Jeanne Boivin through the years. In this sense, the brooch may be viewed as a sort of jeweled "family tree" of Maison Boivin. The Boivin tradition may also be seen in the sense of volume and use of semi-precious stones. Cabochon pink tourmalines are enhanced by amethysts and contrasted by bright green demantoid garnets.
This brooch is a tribute, not only from daughter to mother, but from one extremely gifted jeweler to another. The bold design and supreme use of color come together to create a personal statement that is unmistakably Boivin.
A RARE AMETHYST AND PINK TOURMALINE BROOCH, BY RENE BOIVIN
Details
A RARE AMETHYST AND PINK TOURMALINE BROOCH, BY RENE BOIVIN
Designed as a cedar tree, the modified kite-cut amethyst roots extending a pavé-set amethyst and pink tourmaline trunk to oval-cut amethyst collets and cabochon pink tourmaline leaves, enhanced by single-cut demantoid garnets, mounted in 18K gold, with French assay marks and maker's marks, in an original suede box
With maker's mark for René Boivin (partially obscured)
Designed as a cedar tree, the modified kite-cut amethyst roots extending a pavé-set amethyst and pink tourmaline trunk to oval-cut amethyst collets and cabochon pink tourmaline leaves, enhanced by single-cut demantoid garnets, mounted in 18K gold, with French assay marks and maker's marks, in an original suede box
With maker's mark for René Boivin (partially obscured)
Literature
For an illustration of this brooch see:
Francoise Cailles, "René Boivin Jeweller", Quartet Books, Ltd., London, 1994, page 256
Francoise Cailles, "René Boivin Jeweller", Quartet Books, Ltd., London, 1994, page 256