1860 – 1945 · jewellery, enamels, glass
René Lalique
Female forms merging with insects and flowers, their wings in translucent plique-à-jour enamel between gold veins.
The record
René Jules Lalique, born at Ay in Champagne on 6 April 1860, trained with the goldsmith Louis Aucoc and by 1890 ran the Paris workshop whose jewels of horn, enamel, glass and semi-precious stones judged by art rather than carat made him the supreme Art Nouveau jeweller, exhibiting at Samuel Bing's Maison de l'Art Nouveau.
After about 1905 he shifted to glass, mass-producing scent bottles for François Coty from 1907 and later vases, fountains, chandeliers and car mascots.
He died in Paris in May 1945 and is buried in Père Lachaise.
Female forms merging with insects and flowers, their wings in translucent plique-à-jour enamel between gold veins.