Design for a Haircomb with Flowers (Chrysanthemums?)
Anonymous, French, 19th century French
Not on view
Drawing with a design for a haircomb, designed around 1900, part of an album of drawings by various artists for individual pieces of jewelry, containing a variety of designs in the Art Nouveau style of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, as well as some pieces in historic period styles. The haircomb in this drawing consists of a gray body with a strip of semi-abstract lozenge-shaped brilliants, six teeth, also gray, and a bundle of flowers with small, thin petals, possibly chrysanthemums, of different colors, including cream, blue, purple, orange, and red, and a larger, gray, star-like flower in the center. This design reveals the aesthetic of late Art Nouveau jewelry style, designed, among others, by Rene Lalique, which drew inspiration from antiquity and japonism, abandoning the exclusive use traditional precious stones in the manufacture of jewels, and using, instead, a combination of gold, gemstones, semi-precious stones, mother-of-pearl, ivory and horn, enamel, and glass, to create colorful, powerful, and sinuous designs, often presenting animal and other figurative motifs.
