
Jean Dunand "Coquille d'Œuf" Eggshell Lacquer Case
Created by the master Jean Dunand, this 1920s silver gilt cigarette case is decorated in "Coquille-d’œuf," or eggshell lacquer. The slim case’s crackled white eggshell exterior is laid into a rich red lacquer ground that is subtly textured, and has a hinged lid opening to a polished silver-gilt compartment. A superb exemplar of a difficult and secretively guarded Asian technique re-mastered by Dunand, this exquisite little box serves the modern owner as a business card case or a desktop objet-de-virtu to handle and admire at leisure.
- Product Details
- Curator's Notes
Item #: A-19993
Artist: Jean Dunand, Paris
Country: France
Circa: 1920s
Size: 3.50” length, 3.00” width, 0.375” depth
Materials: Coquille d’œuf, or eggshell lacquer; Gilt silver (wear to gilding is commensurate with age)
Signed: With maker’s marks for Jean Dunand, numbered “16257,” with French importation mark
Literature: Similar red eggshell lacquer case by Dunand dating from circa 1924 is pictured in Art Deco Collectibles: Fashionable Objets from the Jazz Age, New York: Thames and Hudson, 2016, by Rodney and Diana Capstick-Dale, p. 21