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Frosted chevrons climb the tall stopper of this decanter in Lalique's 1939 Argos pattern. René Lalique, whose iconic French maison bears his name, began as the jeweler to the actress Sarah Bernhardt. Read its story.
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René Lalique made jewelry for the actress Sarah Bernhardt, and that first career reached its high point at the Paris exhibition of 1900. In 1939 he created the Argos pattern, and on this decanter a jeweler's eye still shows: the urn-shaped body swells at the shoulder like a jewel in its setting.
René Lalique was chosen to decorate the Côte d'Azur Pullman Express and helped shape the grand dining room for first-class passengers aboard the liner Normandie. On this decanter, molded chevrons give clear French crystal a crisp geometry that recalls the Art Deco years. At heart, Argos sets frosted ornament against clear, open curves.
Light slides down from a neck that flares into a wide rim above a ringed collar. Lower down, the crystal narrows to its stem and settles on a square stepped base. The tall stopper ends in a round clear plug beneath its frosted chevrons, which glow against the crystal as the light moves.
Lalique began with a jeweler's eye. Born in Aÿ, in the Marne, René Lalique was apprenticed as a young man to the jeweler Louis Aucoc. He also studied at England's Crystal Palace School of Art. In the mid-1880s he opened his own workshop in Paris, where jewels would one day give way to glass.
Paris crowned him in 1900. At the Great Exhibition he shone with jewels for stars such as Sarah Bernhardt, and that year he was named an Officer of the Legion d'Honneur. The illustrious maison went on to adorn the Cote d'Azur Pullman Express and the liner Normandie.
His son Marc carried the maison into crystal. Today Wingen-sur-Moder remains the only place in the world where Lalique crystal is made, and its artisans hand down their craft from generation to generation. Its crystal now shines in homes across the globe, chosen by collectors who know the difference between beautiful and sublime. They know each piece carries the vision of a jeweler who turned glass into art.
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