10 Art Nouveau Jewelry Masterpieces: From Lalique to Wolfers

Key facts

• René Lalique's Dragonfly-Woman corsage ornament (c. 1897–1898) is at the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum, Lisbon.
• Lalique was the first jeweler to depict nude women in his pieces.
• Alphonse Mucha and Georges Fouquet made a serpent bracelet-ring for Sarah Bernhardt in 1899.
• The bracelet-ring is at the Sakai Alphonse Mucha Museum, Sakai City, Japan.
• Henri-Auguste Solié's brooch (c. 1900) is from Maison Riondet.
• Henri and Paul Vever's necklace with Breton woman pendant (c. 1900) was sold at Sotheby's in 1997.
• Lalique's swan necklace (c. 1897–1899) is at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City.
• Louis Aucoc's Woman and Octopus brooch (c. 1898) is at the Pforzheim Jewellery Museum, Germany.
• Philippe Wolfers' orchid hair ornament (1905–1907) is at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
• Georges Le Turcq's ring (c. 1900) is from BADA.
• Lalique's iris bracelet (1897) is at Macklowe Gallery, New York City.
• Wolfers' The Maiden and the Peacock (1900–1902) is from a private collection.
• Art Nouveau jewelry often used semi-precious stones like opals and amethysts.
• The movement was influenced by Japanese art (Japonisme) and Symbolist art.
• Art Nouveau declined with the onset of World War I, replaced by Art Deco.