Cristobal Balenciaga

Cristobal Balenciaga

Striped Taffeta dress

circa 1945

     A marvel of understated casual class. Swathing the female frame in sweeping, slightly sloping stripes, the structure of this day-wear dress acts to strengthen and elongate a lady’s gestures (and especially her strides) with but a flit and a flutter of the uncanny texture of taffeta. With just a step or a readjustment of the leg, the folds of this type of textile pleasingly chafe alongside one another with a crisp vigour to match the boldly stretching and yawning stripes throughout. And as a ribbon would securely clutch together the stems of a bouquet of striated tulips, so does the satin belt nip the waist of this seemingly many-petaled creation, leaving at liberty the drooping sleeves to sway with natural ease.

Vestiges of Vietnam

by (unknown) Vietnamese jeweller(s)

Pair of silver and wicker floral-motif bracelets 

circa 1909

     In terms of creating a bracelet, it is an aesthetically clever (albeit difficult) stroke of design to combine, all in one, the elements of lucidity, obstinacy and elegance. Of the former, there lies in the two half-way joints of either of these bracelets a seamless ‘visual’ soldering of wood and metal. Without a true understanding of the different tensions and malleabilities inherent to such opposite natural materials, the four joints of this pair would not stand out to be as lucidly circular or as seemingly of the same ‘core’ as, perhaps, intended. The case is similar for the two following elements of design: the incised and curved columnar weaves of flowering foliage each add a balanced touch of both solidity and grace to the otherwise unassuming shape and characteristically fragile function of the bracelets. Nameless though the designer(s) behind the making of this pair may be, they deserve all the same a posthumous nod of approval from anyone with even the slightest appreciation and attentiveness towards quality jewellery design, despite whether these bracelets please any personal tastes. 

Mikhail M. Adamovich

Mikhail M. Adamovich

Saucer (part of a tea service)

circa 1922

     Distinctly contrasting Adamovich’s usual decorative style (figuratively emulating a colourfully unrepressed and revolutionary Russia), this floral design stems from a pattern sketched by Adamovich, but unlikely ever executed formally by his own hand. Found on the saucer’s reverse is the inscription, lettered in Cyrillic, Po riz Adamovicha, meaning ‘based on drawing by Adamovich’ - a fact which supports the likely idea that the artist did not personally paint this saucer, or indeed the entire collection of similarly-patterned tea cups and saucers which the Kuskovo State Museum of Ceramics came to acquire in 1988 from Adamovich’s grandchildren. However, the initial fact remains: that despite the uncanny exuberance and leafy lust for life that this illustration impresses on the viewer (in comparison to Adamovich’s more figurative and ‘controlled’ idiosyncratic œuvre), and despite the unknown hand which transferred the artist’s primary sketch onto the ceramic, there prevails a sourceless originality of energetic indifference that acts to undermine any question of whom, what, why, when or where - thus stripping away the inevitable haze and clutter of over-analysis, and letting the saucer present itself in its own light.

the Wiener Werkstätte: Impressions

by ‘C. Hagenauer & Merkel’

Thread Tin/Box (or Werbdose)

circa 1905 (?)

     Once sold within the halls of the Viennese department store Herzmansky, this crisply-intact werbdose now stands as a posthumous example of the glorious aesthetics created from the marriage between the Jugendstil and the Wiener Werkstätte. No single detail may be defined as being distinctly that of the former or the latter, for the marriage of elements is seamless and subtle (though the two artistic styles in themselves already shared similar aesthetic foundations). The foliage cradling the central heart vignette, for example, echoes familiar features found in Carl Otto Czeschka’s postcard illustrations, including the serif-less typeface he often employed to design the postcards’ messages. Also instilled in this box is, undoubtedly, a youthful, playful touch. A large portion of the Jugendstil œuvre focused on the light-hearted, uninhibited and gaily artistic side to creating ‘art’, or indeed anything malleable and affected by one’s instant ‘self’. Whereas members of the Wiener Werkstätte deemed greater importance upon the individual character of the work of art itself (strongly independent of its creator), Jugenstil enthusiasts (for want of a better word) placed more value in a work’s immediate visual vernacular, felt through the senses. It is for this reason therefore that a more ‘Jugendstil’ approach may be sensed through this box’s combination of repoussé (or perhaps engraved) surface texture and its neatly-contained energy suggested from both its imagery and purpose. Again, the influence of neither art movement may be detected with certainty, but it is nothing short of pleasure for any connoisseur of this artefact’s particular time period to continually search for new possible clues, no matter how small.

Russian Metalwork

by (an unknown Russian maker)

Hand-painted Trinket or Jewellery Box

circa 1930s (?)

     Furling like the trailing tendrils of Firebird feathers, the fine filigree work lining the barrel belly of this box enhances beautifully its colourful top. Equating the balance between itself and the heavy blossom of blues, yellows and reds that it supports like a cap, the barrel shape perhaps forms this piece’s most defining quality. Like the irreplaceable stem to a flower head, it proudly lifts and steadies its so-called crown with a natural elegance inherent in Russian creations as this. Poised on three dainty feet, it embodies a character that seems to squat un-imposingly in its corner of chosen comfort, asking for little attention and only shyly consenting to being inspected by gentle hands. And with its additional red-velvet inner lining, it seems even to contain a tender heart of its own - as soft as a petal, as red as one’s true love of the past.