Decorative arts
Periods, movements, and techniques that connect the wearable object to architecture, furniture, metalwork, and graphic design.
Art Nouveau
A movement that privileged line, metamorphosis, unconventional materials, and unity of design.
Art Nouveau jewellery brought horn, enamel, glass, opal, and moonstone into compositions where material value served design rather than hierarchy. Insects, orchids, aquatic life, and the female figure became vehicles for asymmetry and technical experiment.
- Peak period
- Turn of the twentieth century
- Key technique
- Plique-à-jour enamel
- Leading figure
- René Lalique
Art Deco
Geometry, speed, contrast, and global visual exchange transformed the interwar jewel.
Art Deco jewellery paired platinum and diamonds with onyx, coral, jade, lacquer, and carved gemstones. The period includes severe geometry, machine-age rhythm, Egyptian revival, and Indian-inspired colour rather than one fixed formula.
- Named after
- 1925 Paris exposition
- Typical contrast
- Diamond, onyx, platinum
- Common forms
- Clips, sautoirs, flexible bracelets
Enamelling
Vitreous colour fused to metal through techniques that leave distinct structural clues.
Cloisonné builds cells with wire; champlevé cuts recesses into a metal ground; basse-taille allows relief beneath translucent enamel; plique-à-jour removes the backing to admit light. Identification begins with construction, not colour alone.
- Material
- Glass fused to a support
- Key variables
- Ground, firing, opacity, structure
- Primary risk
- Impact and thermal shock