Artist: René Jules Lalique
Date: 1900
Size: 37 x 7 cm
Museum: Museum of Applied Arts (Budapest, Hungary)
Technique: Glass
The female nude figure of the pendant is made from etched glass, and is attached to a thin chain passed through the woman’s golden cascade of hair. The shoulders of the figure are covered by a colourful cloak, the bottom of which is decorated with miniature diamonds placed in groups of three among flowers. The artistic composition is executed in a virtuoso technique, especially in the decoration of the cloak. The framework of the cloak is formed by an openwork floral pattern, leafy vines, and flowers, which are filled with greenish, bluish and violet-coloured plique-a-jour enamel. This method results in an effect similar to stained glass windows: when lit from behind, the colours of the enamel gleam. This complex technique of translucent enamel was used in the Middle Ages, but forgotten after the Renaissance. A jeweller, Andre Fernand Thesmar (1843–1912), rediscovered plique-a-jour enamel and began exhibiting objects made using this method in the 1870s. The technique became one of the hallmarks of Art Nouveau jewellery. While Thesmar used opaque enamel, Lalique (1860–1945) worked with translucent plique-a-jour enamel, recognizing its capacity to produce powerful, glowing colours. The inspiration behind the present jewel was the emblematic Parisian dancer of the period, Loie Fuller (1862–1928), whose famed choreography of 1895, the Danse serpentine, was performed in a similar, cloak-like veil.
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