Ahead of the Thursday 02 February, Head of Sale Joy McCall introduces a few of her favourite pieces included in the live online auction Lalique in Colour: A Private Collection. The exceptional private collection sale features a beguiling spectrum of pieces by René Lalique in a rainbow of shades.
I am completely in love with this box. It is of oval section but with the gently convex cover and the graceful curvature of the sides. The design is not symmetrical and so the cover has to be placed in one way, so that the rose garlands form continuous bands around it. The design is not just on the cover and sides of the box but on the underside too. The detailing of the roses and foliage is modelled in low relief and is exquisite in its precision. The surface texture is wonderfully smooth, and the applied staining enhances the overall appearance. I have not handled this box before and am very excited to see how it performs. I really believe it deserves to do well.
I have been handling Lalique on a regular basis since 1996 but have never had the opportunity to offer this frame for sale in that time. I am always enthusiastic about seeing works for the first time. It is a design from 1912 and figures have an ethereal quality. They seem to be a combination of fairies or sea sprites as they delicately float amongst the flowers.
This vase gives me great satisfaction because, as we did photography for the October 2022 Lalique sale, I said I would love to offer a Languedoc vase. Sometimes dreams come true! This is a vase which has superb presence. You cannot ignore it when it is in the room. The depth of relief on this cactus form vase is fantastic and it is such a great colour too particularly when it appears in a cased form as this example is.
This is a rare vase which I want to say I have handled before but when I checked that doesn’t seem to be the case. The pale blue colour of the glass is not a shade that Lalique uses regularly. It is similar in colour to the scent bottle (lot 77 in the sale). The grey staining on the pigeons works so well and you have a real sense of birds perching on a branch against a blue sky.
I am aware of one similar example of this vase appearing at auction in Christie’s New York in 2006 which realised $54,000, but I sadly never got to see it. I have previously handled the Tortues design in clear, frosted and stained, and also in deep amber, but not in butterscotch. It is not a common vase design to start with so to now be offering it in this rare butterscotch colour-way is particularly thrilling. The intensity of the colour is incredible.
Lyon & Turnbull’s Design Department is delighted to have introduced Lalique as a new biannual sale category in April 2021. No other auction house offers specialist sales devoted entirely to the work of René Lalique.
Senior Specialist, Joy McCall heads these sales as she previously did at Christie’s, London for many years. She has over 25 years of experience selling Lalique and brings to the process her knowledge and expertise together with a personal passion for the subject.
0207 930 9115
joy.mccall@lyonandturnbull.com