scent flacon by Alexis Falize

A gold scent flask with cloisonné enamel. Maîtrise by Alexis Falize, enamel by Antoine Tard. Paris, around 1867-1869.

Pictured on one side of this delicate container is a flying crane in a blossoming tree and the other side a crane standing among reeds. The scent bottle hangs from a ring, and the blue enamel on the ring and stopper is echoed in the band that joins the two bombé front panels with the cranes.

Alexis Falize travelled to Japan where he became fascinated by the technique of cloisonné enamel. Together with the enameller Antoine Tard he made several studies for this scent bottle, which are now on view in the new jewellery wing of the Victoria & Albert Museum in London.

Height: 6.5 cm.; 16.5 cm. with the chain and ring.

Literature: Katherine Purcell, ‘Falize: A dynasty of jewelers’, New York and London, 1999, pp. 58-59.