Art Deco Jewellery

Art Deco Glossray

Bijoutier : a jeweller who makes jewellery using precious metals and gemstones, with the emphasis on design and craftsmanship. By contrast, the joaillier uses principally precious stones, the precious metal serving merely as a support. The bijoutier – joaillier combines both activities.

Calibre : style of cutting a gemstone in a shape, often oblong or elliptical, so that it and others cut in the same way will fit snugly together in clusters.

Champleve : technique of decoration by enamelling in which the design was made by lines or cells cut into the metal base which were filled with powdered enamel of various colours and then fired to fuse the enamels.

Cloisonne ; a technique of decoration by enamelling in which a design is outlined on a metal plate with bent wire or metal strips and the spaces are filled in with coloured enamels that are then fused.

Guilloche : a style of engraved decoration made on metal by an engine turning lathe having an eccentric motion that can cut a variety of patterns. The guillocheur is the craftsman responsible for such work.

Haute Joaillerie : the French jewellery establishment, comprising of the best known commercial jewellers such as Cartier, Mauboussin, Boucheron,and Chaumet. It was from this establishment that the innovators of the 20’s and 30’s – names like Raymond Templier and Jean Fouquet – aimed to break away.

Orfevre : a jeweller who works in gold, silver and platinum.

Parure : dress in its widest sense, including everything – clothing, jewellery and accessories – which goes to make up a woman’s ensemble. A parure has been accepted into Englishin the sense of ‘a matching set of jewellery’.

Sable – literally meaning ‘sanded’, this refers to the type of coarsely textured gold produced by lightly hammering the surface with a fine matting tool.

Sautoir : a long neck chain, worn loosely from the shoulders and usually extending down to below the waist, frequently with a jewelled pendant or tassel attached to it.

Vermeil : sterling silver covered with a layer of gold by plating or other process, i.e gilded silver.