Art Deco Jewelry

This indispensable volume presents in almost 800 luxurious illustrations and a lucid text the glorious achievements of Art Deco jewelry. Designers of the 1920s drew inspiration from the whole spectrum of the arts: riotous colour combinations from the Ballets Russes and the Fauves; geometric shapes from Cubism the contrast of black and white from Neo-Plasticism; a fascination with the mechanical world from Futurism; and themes from Egypt, the Far East and Africa. Raulet's informative text covers the creations of the Haute Joaillerie (the establishment jewelers such as Cartier, Van Cleef et Arpels, Mauboussin and Chaumet) and of the avant-garde designers or 'pioneers', as they were called (Jean Fouquet, Raymond Templier, Gerard Sandoz, Jean Dunand and Paul Brandt), to whom we owe some of the most brilliant and daring creations of the period. Alongside the jewelry, there is an exquisite range of accessories vanity cases, cigar and cigarette cases and a spectacular array of clocks. This invaluable book is completed by biographies of the most innovative and influential jewelers of the day, a select bibliography and a glossary.