Eugène Feuillâtre Art Nouveau Butterfly Necklace

This Art Nouveau 18K gold, plique-à-jour enamel and pearl butterfly necklace by Eugène Feuillâtre was created circa 1902-1910. The necklace of articulated links is designed as eight butterflies in flight with diamond eyes, plique-à-jour enamel wings, and cloisonné enamel bodies, highlighted throughout by paillons, joined by shaped gold antennae to foliate enamel links centering button pearls, mounted in chased 18K gold. Preserved with its original fitted case, this elegant jewel of sensitive naturalism represents the work of a storied Parisian enamelist, made at the height of his powers.

Dimensions: 15.75" length.
Materials: 16 old mine-cut diamonds; 8 pearls; 18K Gold; Plique-à-jour Enamel; in its custom fitted case
Gram Weight: 52.6
Signed: Maker's mark
Literature: For examples of Feuillâtre's plique-à-jour jewelry creations, see Alastair Duncan, The Paris Salons 1895-1914, Volume I, pp. 236-240. A biographical supplement for the artist by Barbara Furrer is offered within the The Belle Epoque of French Jewellery, 1850-1910.

Historians report that Eugène Feuillâtre (1870-1916) trained in the workshop of the great enameler Louis Houillon, an innovator in the art, who produced outstanding objets for Falize and Boucheron. Houillon's enamels were described as exhibiting "exquisite workmanship and technical perfection," and Feuillâtre absorbed that standard of excellence as well as the spirit of experimentation which characterized the master's atelier. Additionally, Houillon's partner from 1880-1889 was Étienne Tourrette, who had rediscovered the art of paillonné enamel, and was famous for his achievements in jewelry, including Art Nouveau masterpieces later created in collaboration with Maison Fouquet. Given Feuillâtre's age, it is possible that he was a teenaged apprentice while that fabled partnership between Houillon and Tourrette was extant, as Feuillâtre too was skilled in the challenging art of paillonné enamel work. Feuillâtre is often identified as Lalique's chef d'atelier d'émail between 1890-1897, which would mean he was appointed to the role when he was only 20 years old, although Sigrid Barten, who produced the catalogue raisonné of Lalique's jewelry, states that she was unable to find documentation of this fact. Feuillâtre is one of the enamelists mentioned by Henri Vever in his history of French jewelry as being deserving of inclusion in an additional - though never written - chapter in that landmark volume. His excellence is also evident in the images of his subtle jewels of sensitive naturalism which were exhibited at the Salons of 1904, 1905 and 1905, and 1913, La Societé des Artistes Français in 1904, and La Societé des Artistes Décorateurs in 1904 and 1910, as well as being featured in many publications throughout the period.