Decorative Silver, Silver-gilt and Amethyst Goblet

Director’s Notes

Emanuel Jules Joseph Descomps was a French sculptor and jeweller working in Paris during the late 19th and early 20th Centuries. He worked in various mediums creating objet d’art and jewels in the Art Nouveau style. Whilst little is known of his partnership with Jean-Baptiste François, there is a silver beaker in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York that also bears both makers’ marks. This cup was exhibited at the Salon des Artists in 1904 and described in the Review L’Art Decoratif Revue Mensuelle, 1904 as follows: “La superbe coupe en argent cerclée d’or, de M. Joe Descomps, comprend un fût éclairé d’amethysts sur lequel se dessinent trois cigognes aux ailes replies, dont les têtes renversées soutiennent la coupe, dont les pattes viennent s’agriffer sur le cercle de la base semé d’éclats d’améthystes. Au pourtour de la coupe se déroule une suite de scènes d’un paganisme folâtre, faunes et faunesses dansant, se poursuivant et s’enlaçant dans les jeux de l’amour, buvant, s’étreignant, se portant, ciselés finement dans l’argent pur.” “The superb gold-rimmed silver cup by Joë Descomps includes an amethyst-lit barrel on which three storks with folded wings, whose heads support the cup, whose legs come to grip the ground, the circular base set with amethysts. At the edge of the cup is a series of scenes of a frenzied paganism, fauns and dancing faunesses, pursuing and embracing in the games of love, drinking, hugging, chiselled finely within the pure silver.”