Many influences contributed to the French Art Deco style. One was the exoticism of the Far East, seen perhaps most spectacularly in the evocative costumes and sets of Serge Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, whose productions (from 1908 to 1929) captivated a fashionable Parisian public and provided a rich source of inspiration for designers.

Fouquet's dress ornament is characteristic of this theatrical taste. The exuberant and unexpected combination of colors and juxtaposition of materials—including Asian jade—is appropriately suggestive of the motif of a Chinese mask. The extraordinarily large scale of the jewel suggests that it was probably intended to be a tour-de-force exhibition piece: its weight would easily have torn or compromised the drape of a delicate dress fabric.

In 1895, Georges Fouquet took over the House of Fouquet, a Paris jewelry firm established by his father in 1860 and known for its wide range of revivalist styles. Reinvigorating it with a decidedly modern spirit (its premises were designed by the famed Alphonse Mucha), Fouquet continued to supply his fashionable clientele with exquisite jewels in the latest styles until the late 1930s.

Open full-size image