Adam's Fine Jewellery & Watches 5th December 2023

The bijoutiers-artistes often favoured large metallic surfaces and Templier favoured silver, white-gold or platinum. These surfaces were most often decorated with lacquers and enamels, as well as carved hardstones such as jade, coral, onyx, and lapis lazuli. Dia- monds were employed to pick out a decorative motif, and coloured precious stones seldom made an appearance in their creations. The result was jewellery which reduced to a minimum unnecessary decoration, as a reaction to the intricate embellishment of late Vic- torian era jewellery. In 1929, Templier helped found the French Union of Modern Artists, a collective that also included Charlotte Perriand, Robert Mallet-Stevens, Eileen Grey and Sonia Delaunay. The aim of this association was to promote and uphold modern art, which Templier believed had to originate from contemporary life. He and his fellow jewellers produced monumental pieces including imposing bangles, sculptural rings and large pendants. He became one of the leading proponents in France of the Art Moderne movement and created some of the most iconic pieces of the period such as the diadem and earrings worn by the actress Brigitte Helm in the 1928 film L’Argent. Templier officially took over his father’s business in 1935, allowing him free reign on the business he had long strived to establish as a house which championed Modern and Art Deco design. Following the Second World War, Templier continued to make pieces, in- cluding the lot in this sale from the 1960s. In his later years, Tem- plier made a return to the somewhat more traditional approach of his ancestors. Although he continued to be inspired by the Art Deco period of the 1920s and 30s, his later work transitioned from pieces that were almost entirely free of decorative ornamentation, to creations which of the more classical style, albeit still celebrating the Modernist style. As such, Templier exhibited his skill at accli- matising to his environment and catering for a new generation of clientele in the 1960s. The post-war period witnessed a shortage in platinum, so jewellers such as Templier made a return to gold. Although his style remained largely abstract in jewellery terms, Templier’s designs of this era are more figurative and were inspired by smoother lines drawn from nature. Today, Raymond Templier’s jewellery forms part of some of the world’s most famous museums including the V&A in London, The Met and the Musee des Arts Decoratifs in Paris. Raymond died in 1968 and is remembered for both his pioneering of the Modernist jewellery as well as his unique skill of combining in his later pieces a sense of traditionalism along- side a subtle twist of Art Deco.