Gabriel Argy-Rousseau Perfume Bottle
Regular price
$3,500
This delightfully feminine perfume bottle displays a frieze of swags and ribbons above a lower panel of softly rippling ruffles in teal and cobalt pâte de verre, dramatically contrasted by the gleam of the brass spray pump. The motif pairing likely nods to the luxury magazine Falbalas et Fanfreluches—“Ruffles and Frills”—illustrated by George Barbier and issued annually from 1922 to 1926. This association gains weight from Barbier’s influential role in shaping fashion imagery and feminine aesthetics during the Art Deco era, which closely paralleled the decorative language embodied in this bottle. His illustrations frequently deployed the same ornamental lexicon—swags, ribbons, and cascading textiles—bridging couture culture with decorative abstraction. Early in his career, Argy-Rousseau created perfume bottles for Maison Franck, and he also sold many of his night lights as perfume-burning lamps. His fusion of historical ornament with stylized floral forms captures the crisp modernity of Art Deco, transforming nostalgic references into an elegantly geometric idiom.
Item #: YG-21668
Artist: Gabriel Argy-Rousseau
Country: France
Circa: 1925
Dimensions: 5.5" height, 3.125" diameter.
Materials: Glass; Brass
Signed: G. Argy-Rousseau, France
Item #: YG-21668
Artist: Gabriel Argy-Rousseau
Country: France
Circa: 1925
Dimensions: 5.5" height, 3.125" diameter.
Materials: Glass; Brass
Signed: G. Argy-Rousseau, France
Gabriel Rousseau adopted the suffix 'Argy' in honor of his wife Marianne Argyriadès. She was his best friend's sister. They all shared a love of Greco-Roman and Egyptian antiquity. Argy-Rousseau was interested in many things, studied at the École de Sèvres, but also completed an engineering degree. Throughout his life, he conducted research in areas as diverse as dental porcelain and color photography. In his private life he always surrounded himself with creative personalities, including Henri Cros, who had long been known for his glass works using the 'pâte-de-verre' technique. Argy-Rousseau began to work successfully with the material even before the First World War, after the war he founded a glass factory that had 20 employees at its peak. He developed his own technique for producing his ideas: Argy-Rousseau first modeled his sketched idea in plaster, which was then covered with wax. A refractory hollow mold consisting of several parts was then molded from this model in several work steps. He even produced his own glass. It was crushed into powder and colored by the addition of metal oxides. With the help of fine brushes, the now liquid glass mass, which had been washed several times, was applied precisely to the walls of the refractory mould. Two more layers followed, one after the other, to create strength and at the same time prevent air bubbles from forming. The last layer was resin to further fix the pate de verre. The model was then placed upside down in a wood-fired oven, where the piece was then fired at high temperatures. After cooling, the mold was removed, the now solid object cleaned with acid and the last bumps polished off with a wheel. This is how these wonderful, transparent, at the same time colorful, delicate-looking objects came into being.
Gabriel Rousseau adopted the suffix 'Argy' in honor of his wife Marianne Argyriadès. She was his best friend's sister. They all shared a love of Greco-Roman and Egyptian antiquity. Argy-Rousseau was interested in many things, studied at the École de Sèvres, but also completed an engineering degree. Throughout his life, he conducted research in areas as diverse as dental porcelain and color photography. In his private life he always surrounded himself with creative personalities, including Henri Cros, who had long been known for his glass works using the 'pâte-de-verre' technique. Argy-Rousseau began to work successfully with the material even before the First World War, after the war he founded a glass factory that had 20 employees at its peak. He developed his own technique for producing his ideas: Argy-Rousseau first modeled his sketched idea in plaster, which was then covered with wax. A refractory hollow mold consisting of several parts was then molded from this model in several work steps. He even produced his own glass. It was crushed into powder and colored by the addition of metal oxides. With the help of fine brushes, the now liquid glass mass, which had been washed several times, was applied precisely to the walls of the refractory mould. Two more layers followed, one after the other, to create strength and at the same time prevent air bubbles from forming. The last layer was resin to further fix the pate de verre. The model was then placed upside down in a wood-fired oven, where the piece was then fired at high temperatures. After cooling, the mold was removed, the now solid object cleaned with acid and the last bumps polished off with a wheel. This is how these wonderful, transparent, at the same time colorful, delicate-looking objects came into being.
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