The Dragonfly Woman corsage by Rene Lalique
“One of the most precious and beautiful corsages in the world, and only one woman had the chance to wear this masterpiece.”
This is the Dragonfly Woman corsage, made by Rene Lalique in 1897–1898. The classic remains one of the essential masterpieces during the Art Nouveau period. And Rene Lalique himself is also the most celebrated and loved designers until present days.
Rene Lalique is a French designer born in a small village in the 19th century. With his infinite creativity, he had made various types of art and goods; including vases, perfume bottles and jewellery. Lalique values the design and craftsmanship more precious than the material itself. He enjoyed creating works with glass or less expensive gemstones; this cutting-edge idea had made Lalique a pioneer in design.
His works are inspired by nature; we can see there are a lot of insects, flowers and curvy lines in Lalique’s works. Which echos from the trendy Art Nouveau style during the time, and became one of the most well-known representatives for the Art Nouveau period.
Art Nouveau started to bloom in the 1880s. The style is inspired by exotic floral; it is rather decorative and remained popular until nowadays. Designers will care about all the small details of the work to make sure the whole piece is in perfect harmony. The style is utilised in not only in petite daily goods or jewellery but also large furniture and architecture. Apart from that, during the late 19th century; the western has been influenced a lot by Japanese art. Both very decorative, delicate and focus on details.
Back to the dragonfly woman corsage — It is now exhibited in Museum Calouste Gulbenkian in Lisbon, Portugal. The founder of the museum, Mr Calouste Gulbenkian was a great friend to Lalique and a patron that the museum has abundant Lalique’s masterpieces on display. And his wife is the only person who ever wore this corsage.
There are numerous things to celebrate this work. The corsage is unique by its beauty and fantasy. The woman with the body of the dragonfly is a beautiful nymph, a fantastic creature; it is something beyond our imagination. Through this work, we can explore the imaginative world that Lalique sees.
Also, as we mentioned above, Lalique valued the design technique more than the rare and pricey material. He used some semi-precious stones like Moonstone and Chalcedony. Besides, the exquisite gadgets of the wings were designed to mimic the real dragonfly wings and to make the wings movable.
Moreover, the Plique-à-jour enamel technique — it is a highly specialised technique, which has a honeycomb-like effect. Usually, we apply the enamel powder on a flat copper or gold surface and then heated it to melt in the oven. However, for this piece, there is no base for the enamel powder to stick on; hence, it needs to form gracefully to the wing frame without any incomplete. Which the technique contains both exact time and temperature controlling. Until now, Plique-à-jour is still one of the highest levels of metal-smithing, and Rene Lalique had executed it perfectly on this piece.
Overall, the dragonfly woman corsage is an extraordinary masterpiece from the attractive appearance to the complexity of techniques. Museum Calouste Gulbenkian also contains other works by Rene Lalique. The master of the Art Nouveau period had provided many precious artworks to the world, and this dragonfly woman is something worth seeing with your own eyes!
