Gold and enamel brooch, Lalique, Circa 1900 - Photo Sotheby's

The plaque depicting a line of angels singing, applied with translucent pearlescent enamel, signed Lalique, French assay marks. Estimation: 2,000 - 3,000 GBP. Lot. Vendu 30,000 GBP

LITTERATURE: Cf: Maria Teresa Gomes Ferreira, ‘Lalique Bijoux’, Lisbonne 1999, page 115.
Cf: Sigrid Barten, ‘René Lalique,’ Bonn 1977, page 405 for very similar examples of this brooch

NOTE DE CATALOGUE: Rene Lalique was probably one of the most famous of all jewellers to embrace the Art Nouveau doctrine. Renowned for his fantastical zoomorphic forms merging naturalism and the feminine form with insect motifs. From 1891 to 1894 he made a series of dramatic jewels for the actress Sarah Bernhardt and was to triumph at the Paris International Exhibition in 1900 with an amazing display of jewels. He was particularly fond of experimenting with a variety of unusual materials of low commercial value such as horn and glass, which were given equal prominence  alongside precious stones and diamonds in his jewels. After 1908 he was to devote his energies to glass making for which he has a lasting reputation today.

Sotheby's. The Jewellery Collection of the Late Michael Wellby: An Eclectic Eye - Jewels Spanning Four Centuries. London | 11 déc. 2012 www.sothebys.com