Floral Art Nouveau Brooch with Garnet and Pearl in Gold, Paris, c. 1900

Just as the first flowers of the year - the snowdrop, the lily of the valley and the crocus - herald the new year and the return of life after the dark winter, Art Nouveau in the evening years of the 19th century also wanted to venture a new beginning in the field of art and life as a whole. New forms in architecture, painting and the decorative arts were intended to give people more freedom and also more happiness by aesthetically transforming life. It is no wonder that the growth and development of plants was one of the most important sources of inspiration for artists of the time. In France in particular, plant forms became the epitome of Art Nouveau, and this brooch, too, was created in Paris, as its small gold stamp indicates. The brooch shows a graceful little plant in a dynamically curved frame, in which the entire life cycle of a flower is captured: we see a closed bud, formed from a pearl, and then a fully blossomed flower with wide-open leaves, in the middle of which we again see a pearl as a pistil, reminiscent of its beginning as a bud. The cycle is completed by a red garnet, which represents a ripe fruit. Another pearl is suspended from the brooch. This beautiful brooch has been very well preserved.

Estimate:$1,785.5

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