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Description: RENE LALIQUE Designed as eight green pate-de-verre panels depicting satyr masks with dark and light green enamel looping ivy spacers, mounted in 18K gold, circa 1907-1910, 41.5 cm., with French assay marks Signed by and with jeweller's mark for Rene Lalique Bibliography: Sigrid Barten, "Rene Lalique: Schmuck and Objects d'Art 1890-1910", Prestel-Verlag. Munich, 1977, page 253, plate 383 Alastair Duncan, "The Paris Salons 1895-1914: Volume II: Jewellery (The Designers L-Z)," Antique Collectors Club, Suffolk, 1994 page 54 Emile Sedeyn. "Sur les Bijoux Nouveaux. in "Art et Decoration". Volume 32, Paris. 1912, page 67 Rene Lalique was a consummate jewellery designer, creating works of art that could be worn. Breaking with past styles, he reinterpreted jewellery both in terms of innovative subject matter and use of non-precious materials. Instead of following the prevailing dictates of jewellery design, he turned to the fine arts for inspiration, incorporating both colour schemes and themes from the Impressionist and Symbolist art movements. After his successful experimentation with unusual material such as horn and ivory in the 1890s, Lalique began incorporating glass into his design schemes at the turn of the century. This medium provided him with endless possibilities for subtle colourations reflective of the palette of the Impressionist painters, as well as shapes that could be moulded to replicate natural forms or unusual figures. The illustrated necklace is an example of combining the medium of glass with standard jewellery techniques. Each section with satyrs was made by the "pate-de-verre" process which entails fusing coloured glass paste in a mould by firing. Variegated colouring was achieved by layering different powdered ingredients in the mould. The satyrs on this necklace reflect the Symbolists' interest in ancient Greek myths; these creatures were attendants to Bacchus, god of wine. Each glass section is connected by enamelled gold ivy vines, an attribute that is commonly found on the forehead of these creatures.