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Art Nouveau Celtic Immortality Repoussé Casket by Alfred Daguet

Name: Art Nouveau Celtic Immortality Repoussé Casket by Alfred Daguet
Brand: Alfred Daguet
Price: 13200 USD
Availability: InStock

About the Item

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 dating to the 12th-14th centuries known as chasses. These chasses were shaped like a church Basilica, featuring pitched roofs, gilt-copper plaques nailed to the exterior and encrusted in precious jewels and enamel. Daguet further calls to mind a Medieval Church with his Gargoyle-like Grotesques so typically found on the ledges surrounding roofs of Gothic cathedrals. Daguet flanks a central Phoenix in sinister profile with chimerical creatures. These beings evoke the elaborately rendered historiated initials in early-Christian illuminated manuscripts from the British Isles dating from the 8th and 9th centuries. Daguet’s quadripod-bodied chimeras with reptilian heads makes use of one of the oldest mystical symbols, the ouroboros, which originated in ancient Egypt but whose name is Greek meaning, “tail devourer.” Typically the ouroboros appears in the form of a snake eating its tail to form a closed circle, while other instances it appears as a figure 8. The symbolism in either case is the same: the cyclical nature of life, destruction bringing about reGeneration. The snakelike coils decoratively covering the box also call to mind the flourishes, or marginalia, covering medieval illuminated manuscripts. Daguet subtly continues the theme of the ouroboros. Just as the tail disappears in the mouth of the snake, its head and sections of the snake’s body are missing from view on the panels; perhaps vanished from sight, but still existing. The snake sheds its skin in an act of regeneration. Considered in an esoteric Christian context, the tail eater and snake-like coils found throughout Daguet’s letter box illustrate the concept of immortality. Like the Buzzard’s head Daguet joined to the Phoenix, whose eye intensely peers out as if in search of some carrion, Daguet’s box proclaims that death sustains life. 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, noteworthy for its versatility and virtuosity, is the most sought-after among collectors today. Daguet mined many sources for inspiration be they Egyptian, Celtic, Japanese, Byzantine, Medieval or contemporary. He received formal training under the painters, Gerome and Clairin, both academicians associated with the Ecole des Beaux-Arts who had travelled to Egypt and explored themes of orientalism in their work. Daguet’s studio in Paris was located at 22 rue de Provence, just above Siegfried Bing’s influential L’Art Nouveau boutique. It is this association with Bing that is most significant to Daguet’s metier and what firmly places his work in art historical context. As a promoter and purveyor of Japanese objects, Bing capitalized on the craze for Japonisme by expanding his commercial galleries from 1895-1904 to include artist workshops capable of making everything conceivable to create harmonious interior spaces. Daguet’s finely-worked repousse copper sheets clad many decorative letter and desk boxes sold at Bing’s shop in the early-1900s. These boxes which Daguet often further embellished with colored glass unquestionably reflect the tenets of the Art Nouveau aesthetic. In addition to boasting famous clientele such as Sarah Bernhardt who followed him to his studio on rue du Faubourg Saint-Jaques following Bing’s death in 1905 and the closure of his store, l’Art Nouveau, Daguet’s work achieved critical success with inclusion in group expositions at the Musee Galliera, Paris, 1905, 1926; Salons of the Societe des Artistes Francais: 1900, 1903, 1904, 1905, 1909, 1910; and the Societe Nationale des Beaux-Arts, 1901.

Creator:

Alfred Daguet (Artist)

Dimensions:

Height: 11 in (27.94 cm)Width: 13 in (33.02 cm)Depth: 5.5 in (13.97 cm)

Style:

Art Nouveau (Of the Period)

Materials and Techniques:

Brass,Enamel,Glass,Paper,Steel,Enameled,Repoussé

Period:

1900-1909

Date of Manufacture:

c. 1900