French jewelry designer Lucien Gautrait

French jewelry designer Lucien Gautrait
Parisian artist and jewelry designer Lucien (Louis) Gautrait (1865-1937) mostly created pendants and brooches and sometimes bracelets. Made with notable details and exceptional skills, his jewelry pieces are often compared with such iconic names as Faberge. Plots, in general, typical for Art Nouveau and Jugend style: birds, insects, real and fantastic, zoomorphic female characters. The compositions are more laconic than those of the famous Rene Lalique, but the perfection of the drawing and execution, especially of the enamels, is no worse and makes no less impression.
Between 1890 and 1910, the Art Nouveau movement flourished throughout Europe and America, profoundly influencing many forms of art—posters, furniture, architecture, glass, ceramics, textiles and jewelry. Art Nouveau’s sweeping, rhythmic curves and use of stylized floral and animal forms were particularly suited to adaptations in precious stones and rare metals, producing exquisite creations of timeless appeal.
Gautrait worked as the leading designer for the Henri Vevey jewelry house, and the magnificent pieces with his hallmark prove this. Also, he collaborated with another Parisian jeweler Maison Gariod and stamped his pieces with both signatures and hall marks.

One of the best works of the designer is the Peacock brooch-pendant inlaid with emeralds. Almost symmetrical composition, the stylized gold tail made with the use of green stained glass enamel and decorated with opal cabochons fixed in frames. To add volume, Gautrait connects the right and left sides of the peacock’s tail only at the top, leaving a drop-shaped space behind the bird’s head.

French jewelry designer Lucien Gautrait