RENE LALIQUE – Coupe Coquilles No 1 – Opalescent glass - c. 1925 –
Coupe Coquilles No1 is designed in 1924 and an early production of René Jules Lalique (1860 -1945) who was a highly talented and prolific French goldsmith and glass artist.
His supremely elegant and meticulous art has, more than any other, profoundly marked the Art Deco style that triumphed in France between the two world wars while remaining surprisingly contemporary. Having established a career as a leading designer of exclusive jewellery in the Art Nouveau style, Lalique had 1910 turned his attention to luxury glassmaking. His imaginative, highly original glassware was functionals as decorative. Many of his jewels were commissioned by Sarah Bernhardt and his most important client Calouste Gulbenkian. Lalique made jewellery for Cartier, Bocheron, Destape and Aucoq and perfume bottles for Coty, Roger et Gallet, Worth and Maison Lalique. He became world famous with the monumental glass fountain and his own pavilion at the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industrielles in Paris in 1925 and made all the luxury glass and lightning for the 1st class of the ocean liner Le Normandie and for the luxury train Orient Express. Around 1926 Lalique opened to architectural projects such as wall panels, outdoor fountains and church-stained glass windows for, among others, the Palace of Prince Asaka in Tokyo and the extraordinary St Matthew's Church in Jersey.
He employed a variety of techniques like acid etching or sandblasting to produce a frosty opalescence. Lalique's glass work had exceptional relief, a very refined decoration and was made in three ways: blown into moulds with the mouth, mechanically made: “aspiré-soufflé” or “pressé-soufflé”, or it was “moulé-pressé’ (press- moulded). The base material was semi-crystal - glass with maximum fifty percent lead, colourless or coloured with metal oxides, sulphite and chlorides. Opal glass was obtained by processing a layer of opaque white glass between two layers. Opaque white glass is made adding opacifying agents typically tin dioxide, arsenic trioxide, or antimony oxide. These chemicals create tiny particles within the glass that scatter light, producing the characteristic milky or opalescent effect.
Other forms of decoration were obtained by staining it with enamel; by etching it with acids and by exposing glass to the gasses of metal oxides in a muffle furnace or by polishing it with polishing red or high-speed polishing discs.
PRODUCT INFO
The Coquilles coupe model was created in December 1924 by René Lalique himself and is hence early production. It is the largest coupe in a set of 5 coupes and 5 dishes of the tableware series “Coquilles”. Opalescent “moulé-pressé” glass of stylized scallop shells (coquilles) radiating in geometric symmetry.
DOCUMENTATION: This coupe figured in the catalogue of 1928 and 1932 and was discontinued after 1947. With picture in book “Le génie verrier de l’Europe – de Giuseppe Cappa Editions Mardaga”, page 299. In Catalogue des Verreries de René Lalique of 1932, no 385, planche 35. Also documented in R. Lalique: Catalogue Raisonné de l'Oeuvre de Verre by Félix Marcilhac, 1994, page 748, no. 3200. Assiette Coquille No1 exhibited in the Lalique Museum, Wingen sur Oder.
SIGNATURE/MARKS:
Signature R. Lalique France in the mould. This signature is used as of 1925-1930. Later reproductions of after 1945 have the signature Lalique France. Source: Glasmarken Lexikon - Carolus Hartman - P. 682 and P. 239 – 5262 – around 1925. Number 3200 hand engraved under the coupe.
DATE:
c. 1925
MATERIAL:
Opalescent glass. The use of opalescent glass proves particularly fitting for this model, as its texture beautifully evokes the pearly appearance of certain seashells, thereby creating a perfect harmony between the motif and the material.
ORIGIN:
France, Epinay-sur-Seine
SIZE:
21 cm diameter – 8,3 inch
WEIGHT:
1,6 kg – 3,10 lb
CONDITION:
Excellent condition, no chips no cracks
SALES CONDITIONS:
Please read our Sales Conditons here
DOCUMENTATION:
This coupe figured in the catalogue of 1928 and 1932 and was discontinued after 1947. With picture in book “Le génie verrier de l’Europe – de Giuseppe Cappa Editions Mardaga”, page 299. In Catalogue des Verreries de René Lalique of 1932, no 385, planche 35. Also documented in R. Lalique: Catalogue Raisonné de l'Oeuvre de Verre by Félix Marcilhac, 1994, page 748, no. 3200. Assiette Coquille No1 exhibited in the Lalique Museum, Wingen sur Moder.
