Design for a Haircomb with a Bundle of Iridescent White Flowers and Three Reddish Stones
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 four golden teeth with scrolls on the upper ends, joined by a slightly curved horizontal strip. Three small, oval reddish-brown stones decorate the spaces on the horizontal strip between the comb teeth, with a small, white dot to suggest a certain shine or iridescence in their material. From under the horizontal strip, between the two central comb teeth, scrolls upwards a green stem with two large, stylized leaves, colored with shades of green and brown, which stand over the sides, and a large bundle of stylized flowers with four petals, colored with purple and white to suggest an iridescent, purplish-white surface, bordered with golden outlines executed with metallic paint, and with small, white round pearls as pistils, and smaller, greenish flowers of similar shape. 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. It is likely that this drawing was created after another drawing on the album, which contains the same design for a haircomb, or as a preparatory drawing for it.
Artwork Details
- Title: Design for a Haircomb with a Bundle of Iridescent White Flowers and Three Reddish Stones
- Artist: Anonymous, French, 19th century
- Date: ca. 1900
- Medium: Graphite, pen and black ink, watercolor, and gouache on buff paper
- Dimensions: Sheet: 10 1/16 × 6 1/4 in. (25.6 × 15.9 cm)
Album: 14 3/16 in. × 11 in. × 9/16 in. (36 × 28 × 1.5 cm) - Classifications: Albums, Drawings, Ornament & Architecture
- Credit Line: The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1953
- Object Number: 53.670.10
- Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints
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