A French 18k gold Art Nouveau pendant - image-1

Lot 91 Dα

A French 18k gold Art Nouveau pendant

Auction 1075 - overview Cologne
17.11.2016, 16:30 - Jewellery, Boxes and Portrait Miniatures
Estimate: 4.000 € - 6.000 €
Result: 9.300 € (incl. premium)
Artist Alert
Print page
Watchlist

A French 18k gold Art Nouveau pendant

A convex mother-of-pearl plaque with gold relief appliques depicting trailing water plants and a sea horse. Stamped Paris guarantee for gold 1838 - 1919. Twice monogrammed "LC". With a fine associated chain. H 7.4 cm. L of chain 48 cm. Total weight 27.1 g.
Attributed to Lionel-Aristide Le Couteux (1847 - 1919), Paris ca. 1900.

The artist has skilfully used of the iridescent pattern of the mother-of-pearl plaque to depict sea water.

Literature

Cf. Harrison, Ducamp et. al., Artistic Luxury, Fabergé, Tiffany, Lalique, The Cleveland Museum of Art 2008, illus. p. 111 (cat. no. 21). Here illustrated an art nouveau tortoiseshell comb with gold water lily appliques by Le Couteux. As in the present work, he uses the natural mottled pattern of the material to depict running water. Cf. also Koch et. al., The Belle Epoque of French Jewellery, 1850 - 1910, London 1990, p. 307, no. 244. Here illustrated a signed, gold-mounted mother-of-pearl comb by Georges Fouquet. Koch refers to an entry in the Librairie d'Art Décoratif (illus. 88/89) stating that the piece was apparently designed by Lionel Le Couteux.