Drawing with Sketches of Female Figures

Drawing with sketches of female figures, probably designed in the 1930s, part of an album of drawings by various artists for individual pieces of jewelry, containing a variety of designs in the Art Nouveau styles of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, as well as some pieces in historic period styles. The recto of the sheet contains drawings for two female figures, one half-dressed with a cape, her head framed by two branches with laurel leaves, standing on a semi-abstract grotesque, and holding a bundle of flowers over her shoulder, and the other dressed with a draped tunic, three round motifs behind her back, standing on a semi-abstract globe. The verso contains two sketches showing groups of people: in one, people play with balls and are inside a triangular frame; in the other, some people are standing and other sitting on a semi-abstract pasture. These motifs might have been used to decorate brooches, pendants, and jeweled boxes. The sinuous female figures were typical of the late Art Nouveau period, and were often featured as design motifs in jewelry and other ornaments. Jewels of this period were 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.