The Paris Salons 1895-1914. Jewellery. 2 Vols.
Woodbridge, Suffolk: Antique Collector's Club, 1994. First edition. Hardcover. Large Quarto. 349, 305pp. Original gray cloth with gilt lettering on covers and spines, in original photo-illustrated dustjackets, blue lettering and color illustrations on spines. Light gray textured endpapers. Color frontispieces. Decorative vignettes on title pages.
"This two-volume set is a unique visual record of the jewellery shown at the Paris Salons from 1895 to 1914. It illustrates some 3,000 pieces of jewellery, the work of such giants as Boucheron, Falguières, Fouquet and Gaillard, as well as that if nearly 200 lesser known but still outstanding designers. During the twenty-year period covered, jewellery design underwent a fundamental change, one which Alastair Duncan admirably describes in his scholarly introduction which sets the context in which the joallier (representing the mainstream of traditional French jewellery) and the bijoutier (representing a new generation of jewellers) sought to adapt and innovate. He describes the functions of the four annual Salons at which jewellery was featured – those of the Société des Artists Francais, the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts, the Société des Artistes Décorateurs, and the Salon d'Automne, as well as two important exhibitions - the Exposition Universelle of 1900 and the Exposition de la Parure Précieuse de la Femme of 1908, both of which confirmed the pre-eminence of the French jewellery industry." (Publisher). Profusely illustrated with reproductions of b/w photographs throughout. With extensive index in vol. two. Fine condition. Item #55990
Price: $475.00