It is made of gold and ivory and laqueur and diamonds and emeralds.
It has black enamaling and it has a Chinese motif to it. It is
bordered with a ring of Turquoise. And on top… the bust of a lady,
her head graciously turned while tilted in thought. She is bare
shouldered. She is wearing emerald and diamond earrings. And the
lady and the box upon which she rests is worth somewhere in the
neighborhood of $38,000.
The year is 1875. The place: Paris, France. Four brothers unite with
the idea of founding another branch of their jewelry manufacturing
firm. Their names are Jules, Jacques, Ferdinand, and Leopold. The
company: LaCloche Freres… originally founded in Madrid. They
specialize in van= ity cases, boxes, cigarette cases. We are in the
era of Art Deco. The LaCloche brothers peak in popularity. The Jabot
brooch is their signature design and becomes their most
representational products from the '20’s through the '30’s.
If brevity and conciseness represent the absolute height of
effective commuication… then I would venture to say this Tidbits is
a prime example of this art… born–may I say–out of necessity…
for I find myself once again pressed for time.
For those of you who are new to this thing called Tidbits…may I
direct you to my home page at www.tyler-adam.com where you will
scroll down the left side menu till you get to the area that says
Current Tidbits… and then click on it in order to view a LaCloche
Powder Box.
And there ya have it.
That’s it for this week folks.
Catch you all next week.
Benjamin Mark