A silver and 18k gold Napolèon III bracelet.
A silver and 18k gold Napolèon III bracelet. Designed as a hinged bangle decorated with vines and putti, set with 23 rubies. The central cartouche of red glass over a mother-of-pearl base with an applied "RL" monogram beneath a comital crown. L ca. 19 cm. Weight 88.9 g.
Jules Wièse (Berlin 1819 - Paris 1890), ca. 1860.
Born in Berlin, Julius Wiese was taught by the Prussian court goldsmith Johann Georg Hossauer. He moved to Paris in the late 1830s, where he led the workshop of Francois-Desiré Froment-Meurice. He founded his own workshop in 1844 and registered his company name, still working exclusively for Froment-Meurice. He first exhibited under his own name at the Paris World Exhibition of 1855 and was awarded the 1st class gold medal. His prized "bijoux sculptés" are among the most well known works of French Historicism.
Literature
Cf.: Hellmuth, Jules Wièse und sein Atelier, Berlin 2014, p. 222. illus. 41 a shows a further example of this bracelet with a vacant cartouche. A pendant in the Musée des Arts décorativs proves that Wièse referred to a cast model by the Atelier Froment-Meurice for the flying putti motif. This piece is dated to around 1845, when Wièse still worked for Froment-Meurice (illus. 40). "Auch das später entstandene florale Armband mit demselben Engelspaar über einem blutroten Glasstein in Kartuschenform ist anhand seines Firmenstempels eindeutig als selbstständige Wièse-Arbeit zu erkennen".