In the 1890s, jewellers began to explore the potential of the growing
Art Nouveau style. Very closely related were the German
Jugendstil, British (and to some extent American) Arts and Crafts Movement. Art
Nouveau jewellery encompassed many distinct features including a focus
on the female form and an emphasis on colour, most commonly rendered
through the use of enamelling techniques including basse-taille,
champleve, cloisonné and plique a jour. Motifs included orchids,
irises, pansies, poppies, vines, swans, peacocks, snakes, dragonflies,
mythological creatures and the female silhouette. René Lalique, working
for the Paris shop of Samuel Bing, was recognized by contemporaries as
a leading figure in this trend. The Darmstadt Artists' Colony and
Wiener Werkstätte provided perhaps the most significant German input to
the trend, while in Denmark Georg Jensen, though best known for his
Silverware, also contributed significant pieces. In England, Liberty &
Co. and the British arts & crafts movement of Charles Robert Ashbee
contributed slightly more linear but still characteristic designs. The
new style moved the focus of the jeweller's art from the setting of
stones to the artistic design of the piece itself; Lalique's dragonfly
design is one of the best examples of this. Enamels played a large role
in technique, while sinuous organic lines are the most recognizable
design feature. The end of World War One once again changed public
attitudes; and a more sober style came in.
