Category Archives: French Hair Comb

Paul-Gabriel Liénard and Louis Aucoc

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Paul-Gabriel Liénard was a Parisian Art Nouveau jeweler, who reached the top of his craft when he registered his own mark in 1905. As with Louis Aucoc, Liénard was well known for using pearl sprays. I have not found any documentation connecting Aucoc and Liénard except for these three combs. They were made from translucent horn and seed pearls, so light would show through, and the jeweled accents would keep them lightweight. In addition to philosophical influences, there was a practical purpose to these decisions. The combs would be easy to wear.

Liénard’s example, with his maker’s mark, sold at Christies for $21,600 in 2006.

Aucoc’s comb is on sale at The Tadema Gallery for around $8000.

Both combs are superb expressions of the natural world’s asymmetrical shapes.

Christie’s estimated the value of this Aucoc hair pin at £3000 to £4000 in 2009.

To prove how scholarship creates value, I recorded this sale on E-bay in 2007. Comments are welcome, but I believe these hair pins were made by Aucoc. They were damaged, as all the seed pearls were not present. However, the only identification was “French work, 1900.” The dealer was, shall we say, homework-deficient? I remember this auction well, and when I saw the price, well, it was a lot like the recent auction we have all been talking about.

And just for jaw-dropping fun, I’ll revisit this Liénard tiara, made of gold, horn, pearls, and diamonds, which sold for $60,000 at Christie’s in 2009.

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For more scholarly research, please examine

The Comb: Its History and Development by Jen Cruse, page 35, which I’m proud to say is listed in the Tadema Gallery’s provenance for the Louis Aucoc comb.

Imperishable Beauty by Yvonne J. Markowitz

That Ebay Auction: It was an Amethyst Empire Comb

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The stones were amethysts. Shall we compare the comb in this Empire parure on a historical jewelry site to the one that went for $458 in that E-bay auction?

The comb correctly identified.

The amethyst Empire comb that went for $458 on Ebay.

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For more scholarly research, please examine

Tiara by Diana Scarisbrick

Napoleon’s Letters to Josephine, 1796-1812

Catalogue Des Bijoux Du Musee Napoleon III (1862)

Cameo Diadems of Empress Joséphine

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After Napoléon’s coronation ceremony, where he proclaimed Joséphine Empress, she prized diadems made of cameos. Cameos are a raised image carved on hard stone, such as agate. They have been popular in jewelry design since Ancient Greece. However, Europeans preferred to create cameos out of conch shells.

This diadem resides in the Musee d’Art et d’Histoire, Palais Massena in Nice, France. The cameos are set in gold, silver, ivory, rubies, and sapphires.

This diadem is made from lapis cameos and delicate pearls set in gold. The center cameo portrays Napoléon Bonaparte. Notice how the raised sculptures are a bit darker than the background.

The cameos in this diadem are made from coral, each piece of which has color variations. It is set in gold with lapis-lazuli inlay. Given that Josephine was Empress from 1804 – 1810, when she agreed to a divorce because she could not bear a child, this design was way ahead of its time.

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For more scholarly research, please examine

Nineteenth Century Cameos by Michelle Rowan

Tiara by Diana Scarisbrick

The Rose of Martinique: A Life of Napoleon’s Josephine

Jen Cruse: The Fleur-de-Lys Motif

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By Jen Cruse:

The fleur-de-lys (often spelt “lis”) motif is frequently encountered on ornamental haircombs, either as part of the overall decorative heading or as an applied embellishment. It is said to represent three central petals of the lily, a flowering plant of the genus iris.

The initial conclusion may be that combs depicting this motif must be of French origin, but not necessarily so. The fleur-de-lys was and still is widely used on innumerable artefacts and textiles around the world, although no doubt it had its origins in France.

Certainly the name is French, meaning the “flower of the lily” or “lily flower” and, according to encyclopaedic references, is a very old pattern that was used as decoration in ancient times in countries as far apart as India, Egypt and Italy.

It first appeared in Europe in the 12th century as a motif on heraldic coats of arms. It was the emblem of the French Kings and was depicted on the French Royal flags, shields and banners up to 1789. When Edward III of England (1312-1377) claimed the throne of France, he added three fleurs-de-lys to the three lions of England, and they remained on the English royal arms until 1800. To this day the fleurs-de-lys are still part of the decoration of the royal crown.

The fleur-de-lys is the adopted emblem of the city of Florence in Italy. It also appears on 17th century tombs in Delft churches in The Netherlands. In religious pictures the motif, like the ordinary lily that signifies purity, is symbolic of the Virgin Mary. The motif also became the emblem, in a modified form, for the Scouting movement worldwide, founded by Lord Baden-Powell in 1907.

The 3 combs illustrating the fleur-de-lys motif are all made from celluloid (cellulose nitrate) and date from around 1910 to 1914.

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For more scholarly research, please examine

Jen Cruse: The Comb

The website of the Antique Comb Collectors Club

Fake Lalique: Real Lalique

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This article on Google documents fake Lalique auctions on E-bay.

Beginning collectors, please remember: Lalique, LC Tiffany, Faberge and other great jewelers transformed jewelry with ideas: metamorphosis, symbolism, nature, modernism — the same ideas, which were inspiring Rodin, Redon, Rimbaud, and artists all across the Western World. Japonisme came from welding Edo Japanese art and European philosophy together.

That means a piece made by a visionary’s own hands is unique because it could have never been imagined before. It’s a very different article than combs of a type, such as the two-pronged Victorian hair comb, tortoiseshell back comb, or diamond opera comb. They are beautiful, too. Tiffany & Co. and Cartier produced exquisite representations of popular fashion. They are valid collector’s items, but they weren’t new. They make you admire, not think.

Here are the fakes. The article said someone paid $2000 for one of them.

And here is the real master. This Lalique comb with butterflies carved on tortoiseshell has 18K-gold beetles holding up a banister of citrines and diamonds. It is hinged to a horn comb and sold for $21,800 at Sothebys in 2009.

Here is a similar design on a horn back comb, except Lalique chose dragonflies, so he could drop their tails over the comb’s tines.

In this Symbolist masterpiece, Lalique elongates a woman’s arms to make a triangle and then places a triangular amethyst underneath. c. 1900:

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For more scholarly research, please examine

Rene Lalique: Schmuck Und Objets D’Art, 1890-1910 (Materialien zur Kunst des. 19. Jahrhunderts)

Rene Lalique at the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum

Brooch / Hairpin at the Musée Lalique

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Different fittings can attach to many extraordinary pieces of jewelry. For example, a brooch could become a hair ornament, quite easily. Lalique made this corsage into a breathtaking fairy tale of 18K gold, diamond leaves, mother-of-pearl flowers, and green enamel. It is on display at the Musée Lalique, located on the Rue du Hochberg in Alsace, France.

The Musée Lalique also displays a life-sized picture of L’Exposition Universelle de 1900, one of the places René saw the combs of Edo Japan.

There is Lalique Museum in Hakone, Japan, where we first saw Metamorphosis in 2009. But I am so happy a new one was built in France.

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For more scholarly research, please examine

The Musée Lalique Documentation Center

Jewels of Lalique

René Lalique: Exceptional Jewellery, 1890-1912

Janvier Quercia Hair Comb

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Janvier Quercia was a French silversmith who worked c. 1900. This hair comb was part of a three-piece silver-gilt parure, which included a belt buckle and necklace. A woman emerging from leaves expressed Art Nouveau’s philosophy of metamorphosis. The buckle was made from a metal die cast from a wax model. A reducing machine altered the size of the die to make the comb. As he was making jewelry, Quercia founded Abdullah, a company that made lighters, which was taken over by his son Marcel in 1948.

Quercia’s hair pin design seems similar to my Elkington and Co. barrette. Elkington invented electroplating silver onto copper in the 1840’s, and my piece was made in England, c. 1900.

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For more scholarly research, please examine

7000 Years of Jewelry

The Creative Museum: E Burlisson Comb

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Mysteriously trolling the streets of Paris, exquisitely dressed, Alain found this: a celluloid comb signed by a heretofore unknown designer, E. Burlisson. The shape of the comb, with its black edge, is pure Art Deco. However, the floral designs that fill in the edge are Art Nouveau. Looking at Ancestry.com, I did find a Burlisson family in London in 1891. If the maker is English, the comb did not come from Oyonnax. Perhaps it came from another company in France, England, or America.

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For more scholarly research, please examine

Art Deco Jewelry: Modernist Masterworks and their Makers

Imperishable Beauty

The Creative Museum’s French Collection

René Lalique and Philippe Wolfers

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Lalique introduced horn into the jewelry repertoire. In this tiara, c. 1902, the iridescent horn has different hues, lighter in the center, darker on the sides. The flowers have diamond centers. A gold hinge attaches the tiara to a three-pronged tortoiseshell comb.

Lalique uses a curved horn base to showcase flowers cast in glass with fire-opal centers. The tiara resides in the Victoria and Albert Museum and was made c. 1903-4.

This orchid was made by Lalique’s Belgian contemporary Philippe Wolfers. He chose gold, enamel, diamonds, and rubies, as opposed to Lalique’s orchids, which are made of horn and ivory. The Victoria and Albert Museum also owns this piece, c. 1905-7.

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For more scholarly research, please examine

Art Nouveau (LCT)

Rene Lalique: Exceptional Jewellery, 1890-1912