A DIAMOND BROOCH, BY RAYMOND TEMPLIER, CIRCA 1958... Lot 45

A DIAMOND BROOCH, BY RAYMOND TEMPLIER, CIRCA 1958 Composed of a stylised flowerhead, the polished gold petals with ropetwist detailing throughout, centring brilliant and single-cut diamond pistils to further similarly-cut diamond accents, mounted in 18K gold, diamonds approximately 2.50cts cts, maker's mark 'PRT' for Paul & Raymond Templier, French assay marks, length 5.8cm The Parisian jewellery Raymond Templier (1891-1968) was one of a small group of innovative Art Deco designers known as ‘bijoutiers-artistes’. These were innovative, radical, artist jewellers in contrast to the ‘bijoutiers-joaillers’ in France in the first quarter of the 20th century, the latter of whom encompassed the more moderate and well established and famous jewellery houses. Templier came from a traditional jewellery family and grew up around the family business which his grandfather Charles had founded in 1849. However, after he joined the Templier firm in 1919, Raymond was determined to redefine Maison Templier in order to produce more innovative and for its time, radical designs. Bijoutiers-artistes such as Templier produced work in a minimal, geometric style that looked towards contemporary artistic movemts such as Cubism and were inspired by the imagery of industrial production and the machine age. Similarly, Art Deco’s love of geometric form which had initially flourished in the worlds of architectural design and the visual arts throughout the 1920s and 30s, similarly became absorbed into jewellery design and influenced the work of Templier. The geometric motifs of Templier’s jewellery thus reflect the dynamism of modern urban culture and the mechanised world, earning him the reputation of ‘architect of the jewel’. In 1929, Templier helped found the French Union of Modern Artists, a collective that also included Charlotte Perriand, Robert Mallet-Stevens, Eileen Grey and Sonia Delaunay. The aim of this association was to promote and uphold modern art, which Templier believed had to originate from contemporary life. He and his fellow jewellers produced monumental pieces including imposing bangles, sculptural rings and large pendants. He became one of the leading proponents in France of the Art Moderne movement and created some of the most iconic pieces of the period such as the diadem and earrings worn by the actress Brigitte Helm in the 1928 film L’Argent. Templier officially took over his father’s business in 1935, allowing him free reign on the business he had long strived to establish as a house which championed Modern and Art Deco design. Following the Second World War, Templier continued to make pieces, including the lot in this sale from the 1960s. In his later years, Templier made a return to the somewhat more traditional approach of his ancestors. Although he continued to be inspired by the Art Deco period of the 1920s and 30s, his later work transitioned from pieces that were almost entirely free of decorative ornamentation, to creations which of the more classical style, albeit still celebrating the Modernist style. As such, Templier exhibited his skill at acclimatising to his environment and catering for a new generation of clientele in the 1960s. The post-war period witnessed a shortage in platinum, so jewellers such as Templier made a return to gold. Although his style remained largely abstract in jewellery terms, Templier’s designs of this era are less figurative and were inspired by smoother lines drawn from nature. Today, Raymond Templier’s jewellery forms part of some of the world’s most famous museums including the V&A in London, The Met and the Musee des Arts Decoratifs in Paris. Raymond died in 1968 and is remembered for both his pioneering of the Modernist jewellery as well as his unique skill of combining in his later pieces a sense of traditionalism alongside a subtle twist of Art Deco.