R. Lalique Clear and Frosted Glass Oursin Vase with Gray Patina Circa 1935

R. Lalique Clear and Frosted Glass Oursin Vase circa 1935
Spherical with everted rim, the body molded all over to resemble a sea urchin
Marks: acid-stamped R. LALIQUE, FRANCE
18 M. p. 462, no. 10-888
Dimension: 7 1/2 inches high (19 cm)

The career of the famed jewelry designer, glassmaker, and decorative artist Rene Lalique spanned decades and artistic styles. Best known today for his glass works, Lalique first won recognition for his jewelry. He was described as the inventor of modern jewelry by the French artist and designer ?mile Gall?, and his luxurious naturalistic designs helped define the Art Nouveau movement. Later as a glassmaker in the 1920s and ?30s, Lalique designed vases, clocks, chandeliers, and even car hood ornaments that were the essence of Art Deco chic. Even now, the name Lalique continues to be a byword for a graceful, gracious, and distinctively French brand of sophistication.
Born in 1860 in the Marne region of France, Lalique began his career as a jewelry designer in the last decades of the 19th century. His work employed now-classic Art Nouveau themes and motifs: flowing, organic lines; forms based on animals, insects, and flowers ? all rendered in luxurious materials such as ivory, enamel, gold, and semi-precious stones. By 1905, Lalique had begun creating works in glass, and his style shifted to a cleaner, sharper, smoother, more modern approach suited to his new medium. His Paris shop?s proximity to perfumer Fran?ois Coty?s led him to experiment with beautiful perfume bottles. He offered the first customized scent bottles, transforming the perfume industry. By the end of the First World War, the artist had fully embraced Art Deco modernity, devoting himself to new industrial techniques of glass production and designs that manifest the sweeping lines and the forms suggestive of speed and movement characteristic of the style. Lalique?s work looked both backward and forward in time: embracing ancient mythological themes even as it celebrated modern progress.