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Art Nouveau Necklace with Plique-À-Jour Enamel & Pearls in Silver, Pforzheim, c. 1900


€ 489.00 *
Content 1 piece
Incl. VAT, Shipping
Art Nouveau Necklace with Plique-À-Jour Enamel & Pearls in Silver, Pforzheim, c. 1900
Art Nouveau Necklace with Plique-À-Jour Enamel & Pearls in Silver, Pforzheim, c. 1900
Description
This description was automatically translated from German. If you have any questions about this piece of jewellery, we will be happy to help!
Probably no other country is more associated with the sweeping, elegant forms of Art Nouveau than France. Hector Guimard designed the famous metro stations for Paris, and Lalique created the great works of art nouveau jewelry here around 1900 - many of them so artistic that they were intended to be looked at rather than worn. However, it was in Germany, or more precisely in Pforzheim, that Art Nouveau experienced a certain democratization of forms in the field of jewellery. Here, in southern Germany, hundreds of large and small jewelry companies supplied the whole of Europe with jewellery in the latest forms, but often made of cheaper materials than the jewelers from Paris. The necklace shown here is one such piece of "costume jewelry" from Pforzheim in the Art Nouveau style. Lines of silver sweep in and out around a red glass, staggering to form a shape that is both geometrically clear and reminiscent of a dragonfly. To the right and left of the red glass, a delicate, translucent skin of green-violet enamel stretches in the spaces between the bars. Four pearls shimmer towards the bottom. Art Nouveau artists were particularly fond of the elaborate technique of plique-à-jour enameling. The enamel is cast between the framing borders without any additional supports, similar to the panes of stained glass windows. With this form of enamel, the jewelry designers were able to realize their design ideas in a translucent and almost ethereal way. The great jewelry designers such as René Lalique and Léopold Gautrait created numerous pieces using this technique. Further information on Pforzheim jewellery in French and German Art Nouveau forms can be found in the wonderfully illustrated volume by Fritz Falk: Jugendstil-Schmuck aus Pforzheim, Stuttgart 2008.
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Plique-à-jour (French: open to daylight) is an enameling technique in which the contours of the design are formed from metal bars, which are then filled with coloured enamel glass. In this respect, it is similar to cloisonné, but in contrast, plique-á-jour enamel has no metal base, creating an effect reminiscent of stained glass windows. The technique was developed as early as the 6th century in the Byzantine Empire and spread to Western Europe in the Middle Ages. At the end of the 19th century, plique-à-jour was revived by artists such as Fabergé and René Lalique.
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Size & Details
Art Nouveau Necklace with Plique-À-Jour Enamel & Pearls in Silver, Pforzheim, c. 1900
A Fresh Start
€ 489.00 *
Content 1 piece
Incl. VAT, Shipping
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