When it comes to art nouveau artwork, one name stands above the rest, Alphonse Mucha. Most know of Mucha and his artwork, but perhaps fewer know of his designs for parisienne jeweler Fouquet! The collaboration lasted three years and culminated in Mucha designing the jewelers Paris boutique in splendid art nouveau style!
What a place to shop, and for gorgeous jewelry too! Mucha designed some combs for Fouquet, but the in-house designers created fabulous combs too! Georges Fouquet joined his father's jewelry firm in 1895 and began crafting the stunning art nouveau jewelry Fouquet became renowned for. Their own unique designs and the collaboration with the Mucha cemented Fouquet as an art nouveau success! The third generation Jean Fouquet joined the firm in 1919 and helped create pieces in the new art deco style for his fathers firm. Sadly by the mid 1930's Fouquet had fallen from favor, and though they tried to modernize by replacing the Mucha interior (quelle horreur!) with a more deco design, the firm closed in 1936. Luckily they had the sense to preserve the Mucha interior and it is housed at Musee Carnavalet, Paris' museum of Paris!
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| Comb set with blue opal to mimic a butterflies wing! |
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| A horn comb in an Egyptian revival papyrus form! I adore this one, please someone make me a replica! |
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| same as above, swoon! |
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| reportedly one of the Mucha designs, carved horn with goldwork, enamels and pearls! |
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| carved ivory with a couple embracing with sprays of pearls! |
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| Carved horn or blonde tortoiseshell, with gold set gems! |
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| Stunning abalone shell and gold comb! So modern looking, wouldn't be out of place on today's runways. I would certainly like one! |
More about Fouquet from this excellent site where I got my information! Macklowe Gallery
Gorgeous. Another beautiful collection of hair combs. The embracing couple is such an unexpected and stunning design.
ReplyDeleteIf only there was someone out there today creating such beautiful combs! It is one of my dreams to do it myself, I'm glad you like them!
DeleteThese are sublimely beautiful. The one of the couple embracing caught my eye in particular and reminds me a lot of Klimt's classic painting called The Kiss.
ReplyDelete♥ Jessica
It would be such a lovey accent to a wedding hairdo wouldn't it? If only they still made beautiful objects like these combs!
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