Alfred Daguet Furniture

Alfred Louis Achille DAGUET (1875 - 1942) was a metalsmith active in Paris during the first part of the 20th century. His metalwork created prior to the outbreak of World War I, note...

Like armored shields, Alfred Daguet's bold pair of bronze roundels are veritable aesthetic rallying cries for the forward march of Art Modernity. In subject, material, and form Daguet audaciously presents the tough side of Art Nouveau. His masterful metalwork in repoussé creates spiky fins and rays in hard relief whose rigid, horizontal lines dramatically contrast wth their protruding, undulating spines to lend his venomous Lionfish a quality of powerfulness and propulsion. Having worked closely with Sigfried Bing in his Paris workshop set up above Bing's famed Maison l'Art Nouveau until 1905, Daguet had ready access to raw materials such as glass cabochons, wall papers, and silk fabrics from adjoining studios which he often included in his metal craft. In this milieu of artistic exchange, Daguet also made use of the available books and other source material for both visual and philosophical inspiration, such as Anton Seder's wildly popular Das Thier, from which there can be no doubt that these roundels were divined. Seder, the director of the Ecole Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs (College of Decorative Arts) in Strasbourg and co-editor of the journal, Das Kunstgewerbe in Elsass-Lothringen (The Arts and Crafts in Alsace-Lorraine), made a huge impact on the art world with his publication of Das Thier in Der Decorative Kunst Serie 1-2 (Animals in Decorative Art) released between 1896 and 1909. It contained striking chromolithographic images of animals and mythical dragons presented as decorative motifs. As an educator and disseminator of a modernist aesthetic doctrine, it was Seder's illustrations more so than his pedagogy which reached the widest audience to truly further his Modernist beliefs. Much like Bing, who espoused the Modernist conviction that elevated the Applied Arts to the same level plane as the Fine Arts and thereby integrating his retail and studio enterprise under the same roof, Seder included art workshops in his school and also championed the belief that the Applied Arts are equal to the Fine Arts. Both Seder and Bing wrote about the revolutionary role Applied Arts should play in paving the way for a Modern Art where an analysis of the past goes hand in hand with the observation of Nature and where lessons from craft in particular have a special ability to reach the greatest number and stir interest and love of art. Daguet's two Lionfish unmistakably draw from Seder's Das Thier Art Nouveau illustrations. Despite the hard and spiky quality of his metalwork, Daguet leans heavily on the stylistic qualities of Art Nouveau. Propulsive movement is suggested by the graceful back motion of the whisker fins and by the way the attenuated ends of the spiky fins twist and undulate around the fish like marine plant life. Daguet plays with texture, enhanced by chasing and stippling, to achieve a quality of contrast in light and dark on the fish's bodies. These qualities reference naturally occurring camouflage such as counter-shading found on fish where the dorsal surface is dark and the belly light in order to evade detection. While directly referencing nature, Daguet uses these superimposed forms found on the fish to create an abstract and stylized pattern. Another effective naturalistic detail Daguet works into his design motif is disruptive coloration in which the stripes on a fish blend into the background of the sea environment to break up the fish's outline against plant stems, reeds and other sea vegetation. In this case, however, Daguet superimposes his fish against a golden orange background, like an aureole, which is framed by a convex border resembling a Medieval battle...

VIPER BOX, by Alfred Daguet (French, 1875-1942), dated 1907; an iron footed box whose prominent square nail heads lining the sides and its locking mechanism make up a Medieval design aesthetic, fitted with brass panels decorated in repoussé, painted to simulate patination and inset with multi-colored glass in cabochon settings, the panels depict serpents and newts; the interior is lined with original Lincrusta wallpaper in the monkey chinoiserie pattern painted gold, black and oxblood; incised on the underside in bloc lettering: “ALFRED DAGUET/PARIS/1907”; measuring H: 5.75” x W: 9.25” x D: 9”. Condition: Good; includes key Daguet’s masterpiece in metalwork reveals a continuing fascination with Medieval art. The portable square strongbox is formidably constructed from iron, and it’s riveted square nail heads securing the panels evoke monastic simplicity; whereas the imaginatively striking panels are anything but laconic. Daguet has created the brass version of creatures familiarly found on the pages of illuminated bestiary manuscripts, some of the most popular texts dating from the Middle Ages. A coiled snake, ready to strike, safeguards the box’s top panel. Its open mouth baring a venomous fang provides a sentient warning reinforced by its all-seeing single moonstone eye in profile. Aesthetically stunning, there is brilliant coherence to Daguet’s design elements. Blue, green and turquoise glass beads punctuate the stylized swirls of snakeskin and echo the circularity of the snake’s pose. Viewed from a distance, these glass beads set off by the green painted circular ground glow bewitchingly luminescent. Swirls and acute triangles are also repeating motifs in Daguet’s metier, and the stylized star shapes found throughout the panels on this box are ubiquitous iconic signatures. These stars are also attributes of the newts depicted on the box’s flanking panels. The shining spots on the backs of these lizards resemble stars and account for their medieval latin nomenclature, stellio. Like manuscripts, intended to be read and heard, to be informative and moving, Daguet drops subtle scholarly references while heightening the sensory impact to his visually striking creatures. Indeed, the snakes mirroring...

Alfred-Louis-Achille Daguet Box, circa 1900 Medium size Design, wood, metal forget, copper hammered with glass cabochons. Movement: Art Nouveau Dimensions: 4.72 in H x 7.1 in W x 4...

Around the time that this distinctive Daguet boîte was created, the noted British art critic, Roger Fry, had observed what he termed, “Byzantinism” in the work of many French post-im...

Alfred-Louis-Achille Daguet Crab box, circa 1900 Medium: Design, wood, metal forget, copper hammered with glass cabochons. Movement: Art Nouveau Dim...

MYSTERIES OF THE OCEAN, Strongbox by Alfred Louis Achille Daguet, 1907, the iron box clad in brass sheets worked in repousse, finely chased and adorned with colored glass cabochons and secured by copper and brass nails, marked verso “4” painted in yellow; key is included but not original. Even before the likes of Jacques Cousteau, the vast oceanic world provided an infinite source of fascination and imagination for artists exploring the possibilities of the Art Nouveau style. The sea and all of its creatures combined a sense of mystery with a constant quest to know more. The seemingly endless amounts of sea star species, which magically regenerate lost body parts or even an entire organism from a single appendage, were just the sort of inspiration for Alfred Daguet. With his skilled hand, Daguet presents a fantastical ocean reef...

Made while his studio was located above the famous S. Bing l’Art Nouveau salon in Paris, this metal-hinged wood box is an excellent example of Alfred D...

Daguet’s box is an intricately-worked and fine example of the art nouveau style. To create his butterfly garden, Daguet ties together an awareness of current artistic trends from the British Isles and many earlier antecedents from the Medieval Period. Daguet’s fluid line is evocative of early-Christian illuminated manuscripts while his flowers bring the Mackintosh Rose...

A modern letter box in the hands of Alfred Daguet was not simply a functionally designed repository of mail but a conveyor of messages as well, messages of life-and- death importance. Shaped like a Medieval reliquary, Daguet used the repousse technique on brass and colored glass cabochons to reference French reliquaries...

Repousse Brass over Wood, with Glass Jewels Alfred-Louis-Achille Daguet was a metalsmith who specialized in repoussé copper panels made for application to hinged boxes, mantel cl...

Metal repousse with glass cabochons, Alfred-Louis-Achille Daguet was a metalsmith who specialized in repoussé copper panels made for application to hinged boxes, mantel clocks, p...