Details
ART NOUVEAU ENAMEL, STAR SAPPHIRE AND GOLD PENDANT
The shield shaped pendant with a deep translucent pale blue and white enamel thistle and a deep opaque blue enamel thistle on reverse suspending an oval star sapphire drop on a blue enamel and gold bar link chain, circa 1890
At the turn of the century, Rene Lalique broke with traditional jewelry conventions, creating jewelry not only to enhance the appearance of the wearer but also as a genuine art form. His use of exotic and often fragile materials such as glass, horn, and rock crystal was revolutionary. This bracelet composed of delicate plique-a-jour enameled leaves enframing carved rock crystal plaques, is made up of five sections and is typical of his bracelets from 1900-1905. Nature predominated in Art Nouveau imagery, and Lalique combines flora and fauna in his work. The center plaque is carved with a feline animal while the figures on the four flanking plaques are in the guise of birds, one identified as a ibis. The exact meaning of the bracelet remains an enigma, although in ancient Eygpt, cats were considered sacred animals and birds symbolized the soul.
The shield shaped pendant with a deep translucent pale blue and white enamel thistle and a deep opaque blue enamel thistle on reverse suspending an oval star sapphire drop on a blue enamel and gold bar link chain, circa 1890
At the turn of the century, Rene Lalique broke with traditional jewelry conventions, creating jewelry not only to enhance the appearance of the wearer but also as a genuine art form. His use of exotic and often fragile materials such as glass, horn, and rock crystal was revolutionary. This bracelet composed of delicate plique-a-jour enameled leaves enframing carved rock crystal plaques, is made up of five sections and is typical of his bracelets from 1900-1905. Nature predominated in Art Nouveau imagery, and Lalique combines flora and fauna in his work. The center plaque is carved with a feline animal while the figures on the four flanking plaques are in the guise of birds, one identified as a ibis. The exact meaning of the bracelet remains an enigma, although in ancient Eygpt, cats were considered sacred animals and birds symbolized the soul.