Lalique Crystal Sculptures

Rene Lalique's glass works is known today as 'Lalique Crystal'.

He was recognized as one of France's foremost Art Nouveau jewelry designers creating innovative pieces for Samuel Bing's new Paris shop, La Maison de l'Art Nouveau and one of the world's greatest glass makers and jewelry designers of the Art Nouveau and Art Deco periods.

He was a renowned antique french glass designer, known for his stunning creations of perfume bottles, vases, jewelry, crystal chandeliers, clocks, and automobile hood ornaments. The firm he founded is still active.

These press-moulded, low relief motif, opalescent glass works of art were inspired from nature, the human figure, Greek classical mythology and the exotic. His glass works is known today as 'Lalique Crystal'.

Post Rene Lalique Crystal is called "Cristal Lalique ". Cristal Lalique is created by his heirs.

Displaying Lalique Crystal, Lalique Mascots, and Lalique Glass Panel Photos.

One beautiful Lalique Hood Ornament is 'Chrysis' (immediate right); a Frosted Car Mascot, design 1931
modelled as a nude female leaning backwards with streaming hair. Chrysis sold at a London auction for £2,800.

It didn't stop there. His glass mascots could be found adorning the hood of many of the more luxurious cars of the Roaring Twenties. Indeed, these are the most sought after collectibles today. Their value today is based on the rarity of the actual piece, the color or tinting, and, the condition.

The Lalique mascots were made specifically for automobile adornment and were mounted on the radiators.

The more expensive Lalique Crystal Mascots were produced in lesser numbers, and include the Fox, Owl, Guinea Hen, Epsom, Comet, Peacock's Head and Ram's Head. A few mascots were tinted or made with opalescent glass, and very few mascots were produced in color.

A range of 27 Lalique Crystal automobile ornaments were made by Rene Lalique from 1925-1932.

René Jules Lalique was an imaginative and creative artist in all his work. Later in his career, his glassmaking talents had expanded to include: statuettes, vases, tableware, bowls and, amongst other things, architectural panels. His genuis was the achievement of form and motif seamlessly unified in each piece.

The architectural glass panels could be found aboard the greatest ocean liners of the day, such as the SS Normandie. Intricate wall panels (see top right of this module) adorned several rooms of the SS Normandie, and custom-made Lalique light towers added to the ambiance. Lalique was responsible for the walls of lighted glass and the elegant glass columns which filled the dining room and grand salon of the SS Normandie.

As you can see Rene Lalique is well know for not only Lalique Crystal, but also Lalique Glass.

Lalique items also adorned the dining car of The Orient Express. Lunch, dinner and brunch is served by the Italian waiters in one of the three individually styled Restaurant Cars: Lalique, Etoile du Nord or Chinoise. The antique french glass panels immediately below are Lalique glass in the Cote d'Azur dining car of the Orient-Express.

Now this is not a Lalique original, but Lalique Cristal. It is a Lalique Cristal Console table that was purchased in Paris at Lalique store. The owner claims it was bought for $50,000 and starting bid is $20,000.



Note that post Rene Lalique Crystal is called "Cristal Lalique ". Cristal Lalique is created by his heirs.

The lovely 'Suzanne' (immediate right) is an an Opalescent Glass female nude and she sold at Bonhams, London in 2006 for £5,500.

Recognized as one of the world's greatest glass makers and jewelery designers of the art Nouveau and art Deco periods, he was an imaginative and creative artist in all his work. His early life was spent in many different types of artistic businesses, acting as apprentice and assistant.

By 1900, Rene had reached the height of his career in jewelry design. He won international acclaim for his interpretation of symbolism and naturalism. His attention began to lean toward glassmaking and to what is referred today as "Lalique Crystal".

Rene made Coty perfume bottles which invoked the essence of the perfume contained therein. He subsequently created perfume bottles for some of the finest French perfumeries of that era, such as Houbigant, d'Orsay and Molinard.

Rene Lalique apprenticed with the Parisian jeweler, Louis Aucoc at the age of 16. Then from 1878-1880 he attended Sydenham Art College in London, England. After returning to France, he worked for Aucoc, Cartier, Boucheron and others.

He became a freelance designer for several top jewelery houses in Paris and four years later established his own jewelery workshop. By 1890, he was recognized as one of France's foremost Art Nouveau jewelery designers; creating innovative pieces for Samuel Bing's new Paris shop, La Maison de l'Art Nouveau. He went on to be one of the most famous in his field, his name synonymous with creativity and quality and Lalique Crystal is now a household name.

The old jewel was based upon the idea of wealth; the new is built upon an artistic idea." Jewelry had relied on gems, particularly diamonds, and on precious metals. But between about 1892 and 1897 he developed an approach that emphasized artistry over intrinsic value.

Rene avoided using precious stones and the conservatively classical settings favored by other leading jewelers of the time. Rather, he combined semiprecious stones with such materials as enamel, horn, ivory, coral, rock crystal, and irregularly shaped Baroque pearls in settings of organic inspiration, frequently accentuated by asymmetrical curves or elaborate flourishes. He especially loved the ever-changing iridescence of opals.



In the 1920s he also became famous for his work in the Art Deco style.

His factory closed in 1939 for the duration of World War II. Unfortunately, Rene died on the 5th May 1945 and never witnessed its reopening.

"The style comes from an artistic gesture, outlining a drawing in total osmosis with crystal, a style that one easily recognizes through the manual modeling of the shapes and patterns, as if sculptured, the richness of the figurative details..."