René Lalique was one of the most prolific and creative artists in his involvement with the arts of the object. At the beginning of his career he dedicated himself to Art Nouveau jewelry, in which he achieved spectacular results. However, the jewels are more exclusive and due to their higher cost they have a more distinctive diffusion.

Instead, moving forward in the 20th century, glass was the material he chose to make a large number of pieces that achieved enormous success and widespread circulation. The industrial manufacture of artistic glassware was his great achievement, wisely uniting in his molded glass objects the most refined Art Déco aesthetics, an enormous knowledge of techniques and an intelligent commercial vision. Between the 1910s and 1930s, critics and international exhibitions in Barcelona made the French creations of that period known, in a similar way to what happened in many cities around the world. Although vases and perfume bottles were perhaps the most famous typologies, he came to make, among other more extravagant objects, caps for car radiators or plates for lamps or fountains that he placed in public places, on ocean liners or even in the wagons of the Orient. Express.

Jarrón "Mosaic" vase. Opalescent molded glass. Model created in 1927.

In the October auction, Balclis will feature several crystalline pieces by this artist that are highly representative of his output. Most of them are vases that give a good proof of their ingenuity and their exquisiteness in the designs. In transparent glass, sometimes patinated with ocher or blue tones or in opalescent glass, with beautiful pearly reflections, the artist shows us his fantasy, as well as the forcefulness and delicacy that he knew how to express in his designs that were executed in his factory. Like good decorative and collectible pieces, each model received its own name, which could be “imaginative”, with local names as we see in the case of “Moissac” or personal names such as “Albert”.

Vase "Albert". Colorless molded glass. Molded created in 1925.

For their part, some received their nickname for the decoration represented, such as the “Archers” or “Guirlandes” models.

Vase "Arquers". Colorless molded glass with brown patina. Model created in 1921.

Vase "Guirnaldes". Molded and patinated glass. Model created in 1935.

Perhaps the most whimsical of the models on offer is the “Coq Nain” radiator cap, which refers to the sculptural little rooster modeled in fully Art Deco shapes.

Sculpture-radiator cap "Coq Nain". Molded and patinated glass in pocre. 1928 model.