19 April 2018
To read, "Figures"
After “La Faune” and “La Flore“, “Figures”, a book produced with support from the Ecole des Arts Joailliers, completes the triptych devoted to jewelry by the Musée des Arts Décoratifs. In it you will find insect-women by René Lalique, Venus at her toilet, portraits of the Duke of Montebello with his children engraved on seashells, death’s heads and joined hands forming a ring. These human figures have numerous meanings: symbols of love, signs of political affiliation or representations of vanity or devotion, like the Christ carved on the boxwood beads of a rosary. Meanwhile, more recent pieces like the ballerina-clip by Van Cleef & Arpels and the “Mouth” necklace by Claude Lalanne are purely aesthetic. Fascinating stuff.
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"Figures" by Patrick Mauriès and Evelyne Possémé
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Eugénie O'Kin au Musée des Arts Décoratifs - Pendentif "Tête de femme" en or et ivoire, 1920/23 © MAD, Paris/Jean Tholance
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Claude Lalanne at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs - Necklace "Mouth" in gilded bronze, 1977 © MAD, Paris/Jean-Marie del Moral © ADAGP, Paris 2018
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Alphonse Fouquet at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs - Châtelaine "Bianca Capello" in gold, enamel on mother-of-pearl, diamonds - Exposition universelle 1878 © MAD, Paris/Jean Tholance
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Alberto Giacometti at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs - Bracelet "Visage de chimère" or "Naïade" in gilded bronze, ca 1935 © MAD, Paris/ Jean-Marie del Moral
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Bracelet at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs -Gold and eggshell cameos featuring the duc of Montebello and his children - Ca 1810 © MAD, Paris/Jean Tholance
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Jacomijn van der Donk at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs - Necklace "Hands" in oxidized silver lace © MAD, Paris/Jean Tholance
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