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The stained glass window effect in the Girl Blowing Bubbles pendant comes from its use of the backless pliqué-à-jour (“letting in daylight”) method, whose French name refers to its translucence. Enameling uses heat to fuse colorful, powdered glass to a substrate like metal, glass, or ceramic. Invented in antiquity, its many complicated variations were developed and refined over centuries by artists in Egypt, Persia, China, France, and elsewhere.
In Spain at the turn of the 20th century, Barcelona was the center of the Art Nouveau movement, which was dramatically represented by the Modernist architecture of Antoni Gaudí. This pendant—an outstanding example of Catalan adornment—is more symmetrical and less flamboyant than Art Nouveau examples created in France or Belgium during the same period.
Girl Blowing Bubbles pendant
Fuset y Grau (Spanish, active 1890s-1930)
Spanish
about 1910
Medium/Technique
Gold, platinum, plique-a-jour enamel, pearl, ivory, sapphire, diamond
Dimensions
Height: 10.2 cm (4 in.)
Credit Line
Museum purchase with funds donated by Susan B. Kaplan, William Francis Warden Fund, Carol Noble in honor of Susan B. Kaplan, and anonymously
Accession Number2012.117
ClassificationsJewelry / Adornment – Pendants
The stained glass window effect in the Girl Blowing Bubbles pendant comes from its use of the backless pliqué-à-jour (“letting in daylight”) method, whose French name refers to its translucence. Enameling uses heat to fuse colorful, powdered glass to a substrate like metal, glass, or ceramic. Invented in antiquity, its many complicated variations were developed and refined over centuries by artists in Egypt, Persia, China, France, and elsewhere.
In Spain at the turn of the 20th century, Barcelona was the center of the Art Nouveau movement, which was dramatically represented by the Modernist architecture of Antoni Gaudí. This pendant—an outstanding example of Catalan adornment—is more symmetrical and less flamboyant than Art Nouveau examples created in France or Belgium during the same period.
DescriptionDepicted in this pendant is the profile, half-length portrait of a girl blowing pearl bubbles through a straw. The girl has plaited hair and is holding a goblet with overflowing pearls. The portrait has a scrolling foliate surround that is chased and engraved. The background has blue and red plique a jour enamel simulating a stained glass window.
Marks
Has maker's mark for Fuset y Grau
ProvenanceJuly 15, 2010, anonymous sale, Sotheby's, London, lot 223. 2011, sold by an unknown dealer, London, to S.J. Phillips Ltd., London; 2012, sold by S.J. Phillips to the MFA. (Accession Date: April 25, 2012)