Rare and important enamel, gold, emerald and diamond corsage ornament, Fédor Anatolevitch Lorie, circa 1900

Designed as a hybrid dragonfly, with helmeted female head set with two cabochon sapphires  to a winged torso, the lilac plique-à-jour enamel wings highlighted with circular-cut diamonds and cabochon emeralds to a similarly set tapering articulated body, suspended by the arms from a pair of pink enamel and gem-set stag beetles, mounted in 14 carat yellow gold,

Vivienne Becker, “The Jewellery of Rene Lalique”,  A Goldsmiths’ Company Exhibition, 28^th May to 24 July 1987, Exhibition Catalogue, exhibition number 87, pages 103 -105

 

Vivienne Becker, “Art Nouveau Jewelry”, Thames & Hudson, London 1985

 

“The Master Jewelers” edited by Kenneth Snowman, Thames & Hudson, London 1990, pages 125-139

 

A.K. Snowman “The Art of Carl Faberge”, Faber & Faber, London 1953

Henri Vever, “La Bijouterie francaises au XIXme siecle”, Paris, 1908

 

 “The Antique Dealer and Collectors Guide” April 1994,  “Russian Art Nouveau” by Stephen Dale, pages 36-38, this corsage ornament/pendant is illustrated on page 37

The first decade of the twentieth century was witness to one of the most distinctive and important trends in jewellery design, that related to the international style generally known as Art Nouveau.  Many of the jewellers who had embraced the new aesthetics at the end of the nineteenth century did so because they were appalled by the poor quality of much mass-produced jewellery, a result of technical progress and mechanisation.  Furthermore, the greater availability of diamonds had contributed to a shift in emphasis from design to the gems themselves.  As a consequence, intrinsic value began to overshadow artistic merit.

 

Art Nouveau jewellers, in their quest to improve and elevate contemporary design, set out to create jewels inspired by nature, in which materials were subordinate to the design and creativity was more important than intrinsic value.  Their aim was to evoke and interpret nature rather than to copy it.  Although, in a sense, the decorative motifs were similar to those of nineteenth century naturalistic tradition, they were a departure from imitative realism.  Insects and animals were transformed into fantasy creatures, the iconography of which was generally set off by the ubiquitous use of curving and sinuous lines. The female form was portrayed as not only beautiful but mysterious and sensual.   Materials were always selected for the part they could play in the overall design and not for their intrinsic values.  They made use of a variety of techniques, the most characteristic of which was the so-called plique-a-jour, an open backed enamel, the effect of which resembles that of a stained-glass window.

 

Although the Art Nouveau style was relatively short-lived in jewellery, lasting only from the end of the 1880’s to about 1905, it stimulated the creation of a number of quite extraordinary ornaments.  French designer Rene Lalique, a true innovator, may be regarded as the genius of Art Nouveau jewellery.  His work, especially after the Paris Exposition Universelle of 1900, became a model for jewellers both in Europe and America. Lalique created one of his masterpieces between 1897 and 1898: this is the hybrid dragonfly corsage ornament which was acquired by Calouste Gulbenkian in 1903 and now is a star of the Gulbenkian Museum collection of Lalique in Lisbon.  The Moscow silversmith and jeweller, Fedor Anatolevitch Lorie, undoubtedly took Lalique’s extraordinary creation as the inspiration for his jewel.  The subject is fantastic; the beautiful female, naked and winged, emerges sensuously from the jaws of the dragonfly.  This is metamorphosis and transformation: the female figure represents nature and all life and is both beautiful and predatory at the same time.  

 

As an example of a Russian jewel created in the Art Nouveau style this is not only an object of beauty and desire but it is also extremely rare and important.