desimonewayland:Five vases by Jean Dunand circa 1925Lacquered metal, coquille d'œufIn addition

desimonewayland:

Five vases by Jean Dunand circa 1925

Lacquered metal, coquille d'œuf

In addition to the lacquered metal technique that he perfected towards the end of the 1910s, another important technical device attributed to Jean Dunand is his signature use of crushed eggshell as a decorative element, a technique that he introduced and perfected in the early 1920s. The technique consisted of the use of eggshells that were washed and whose inner membranes were removed, after which they were delicately crushed and the fragments sorted according to size. Each particle was then applied to the fresh lacquer using tweezers. Coquille d’oeuf was often combined with lacquered metal, resulting in highly textured pieces with rich geometric presence, producing dramatic contrast against the dark lacquered surface. The instant commercial success of Dunand’s eggshell works prompted the artist to maintain a chicken coop in his workshop’s courtyard to meet the increasing demand.