French Workshop, French Sterling Guilloché Enamel 8 Pc Vanity Set, Circa 1920

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French Workshop, French Sterling Guilloché Enamel Vanity Set, Circa 1920

This coordinated eight-piece vanity ensemble exemplifies the refined luxury goods … Read more French Workshop, French Sterling Guilloché Enamel Vanity Set, Circa 1920

This coordinated eight-piece vanity ensemble exemplifies the refined luxury goods produced for the French toilette in the early twentieth century, combining finely finished silver forms with rich purple guilloché enamel panels bordered in white and framed by polished metal rims. The set comprises two rectangular perfume bottles with faceted clear-glass bodies and sterling-mounted screw caps, a cylindrical glass bottle (likely for salts or a cosmetic solution) with a matching enameled cap, a lidded round powder or cream jar, and an assortment of dressing implements including a hand brush and clothes brush with pale bristles, a shoehorn, and a buttonhook. Across the pieces, the enamel is laid over an engine-turned ground to create a subtle radiating texture that animates the surface as it catches light, a technique long associated with Parisian and provincial ateliers supplying the high-end personal accessories market. Each component is marked with French hallmarks indicating sterling standard, and the repeated “MBA” monogram suggests a bespoke commission for a single owner, intended as a unified set for a dressing table or travel case. The contrast of crisp geometric glass, cool silver mountings, and saturated enamel color places the group comfortably within the decorative vocabulary of the period, bridging late Art Nouveau taste for jewel-like surfaces and the increasingly streamlined sensibility that would culminate in Art Deco.

Measurements: Perfume bottles 4.75" h x 2.625" w; round jar 3.125" h; lidded jar 2.625" w; shoehorn 8.375" l; hook 8.275" l; brushes 8" l; total measured weight of non-glass items 390.6 grams. See less