Curious Objects: Wartski expert Katherine Purcell on René Lalique and Poetry in Jewelry

Editorial Staff Curious Objects

In the third episode of The Magazine ANTIQUES’ podcast Curious Objects, host Benjamin Miller interviewed Katherine Purcell, principal in the London jewelry firm Wartski. A peerless scholar and an engaging storyteller, Purcell gives us the particulars on a magnificent enameled necklace by René Lalique, the “genius of art nouveau jewelry.”

The jewelry of René Lalique

Editorial Staff Art

By GEOFFREY C. MUNN; from The Magazine ANTIQUES, June 1987. Even if the word genius was used as sparingly as it should be, the late nineteenth- and early twentieth century jeweler René Lalique would always be so described. Rather than a craftsman with a leaning toward the artistic, he was an accomplished artist who chose to express himself primarily in …

This Week’s Top Lots: October 26 – 30

Editorial Staff Furniture & Decorative Arts

* Christie’s London/October 27, 20th Century Decorative Art & Design The sale total was £778,625. The top lot was a set of six art nouveau chairs by Emile Gallé that sold for £79,250 (estimate £30,000-50,000). Other top lots were a vitrine by Koloman Moser for J & J Kohn that sold for £51,650 (estimate £15,000-20,000), and a prototype Odalisque bench …

Behind the Screen: A look at Chéri with Véronique Melery

Editorial Staff

Directed by Stephen Frears (Dangerous Liaisons, The Queen) and based on the novels of Colette, Chéri tells the story of an aging courtesan (Michelle Pfeiffer) who falls for the playboy son (Rupert Friend) of a rival courtesan (Kathy Bates). It’s a boudoir dramedy set mainly in Paris, and it goes without saying that the Belle Epoque interiors speak volumes. I …