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The flowering of a perfect union.
(Three Separate Parts)
Erté has used nixed media in most of his vases. Crystal, bronze, silver, white gold and yellow gold have been used successfully by Erté in a collection of stunning vases. This collection represents only the best of his vase designs over the last 70 years. What a pleasure it has been during the last three years to review his archives, to select the most outstanding examples and to see them become available.
While a vase is designed to display flowers, one must remember that the vase first of all is an object of consummate beauty, a work of art to be appreciated in its own right like a painting or sculpture.
One of the most successful vases represents the marriage between two French "institutions"- Baccarat and Erte. Sea Maidens is a truly exquisite vase -- hand- cut and hand-polished. For the collector, this piece represents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, since it combines the stellar design talents of Erte with the perfectionist production technique of Baccarat, one of the world's oldest and most famous cristalleries. It is the first of six pieces in the Baccarat-Erte collaboration, and several forward-thinking individuals have committed to acquiring this entire series.
Baccarat was founded in 1764
and has created crystal for many of the world's monarchs and leaders ever since. The crystal is full lead and made entirely by hand. True to their impeccable standards, Baccarat destroys over 40% of their production because it does not meet their exacting requirements.
Erte has created two mermaids, those mysterious sirens of the deep, caught in the act of diving back into the vase's crystalline depths. For though these alluring sea maidens may come to some rocky shore to bask in the sun and brush their hair, they must inevitably return to the ocean. And though men may be spellbound by their singing, may be enthralled by their beauty, still, mere mortals can never possess this mythical creature. This beautiful vase, with its twin bronze sea maiden handles, requires over 100 separate steps for its creation.
Erté's second Baccarat creation, Grapes, uses the same crystal, but with art deco birds feeding on grapes rather than mermaids diving over shells.
The second successful blending of bronze and crystal in vases is Erté?s "Visages de Femme" (faces of women). In 1925 Erte completed a series of ink drawings called "Dreams" in which the smoke flowing from different men's cigarettes, cigars or pipes formed beautiful women's faces. Later the same year, he visualized eight wedding veils and faces of women emerging from a "glittering cloud." Over several months III 1986, Erté designed a vase, a bud vase and a champagne flute composed of some of these faces of women. The idea behind the vase Visages de Femme is that most women today are required to play multiple roles in life-lover, wife, mother, professional, friend, confidante, etc. This work of art is Erte's homage to the complex woman of today, her many faces, her beauty. Its chalice shape makes it the perfect gift for a man to give to the complex and wonderful woman of his life.
