rafted by Vever, this corsage features two chrysanthemums, a motif borrowed from Japanese art, interpreted in the Art Nouveau style that was popular in the early 1900s. The petals are iridescent Mississippi baroque pearls; the stems are highlighted with diamonds and the leaves are enamelled. If there is one name anyone interested in the history of jewellery should know, that name is Vever. The company was founded in 1821 by Pierre-Paul Vever in Metz, Lorraine, one of two parts of France that were ceded to Germany under the terms of the Treaty of Frankfurt in 1871, following which the Vever family moved to Paris. Pierre-Paul’s son, Ernest Vever, took over Marret & Baugrand at 19 Rue de la Paix, where he established the Vever company. In 1875 he was appointed president of the Chambre Syndicale de Bijouterie, Joaillerie, Orfèvrerie, the national body representing jewellers and goldsmiths.

However, the Vever name would truly come into its own after Ernest’s sons, Paul and Henri, took the reins in 1881. Paul’s business skills complemented Henri’s training in the decorative arts and, under their guidance, the company would create jewelled masterpieces. A proponent of the nascent Art Nouveau style, as well as a respected collector of Persian miniatures and Japanese woodblock prints, Henri Verver introduced materials that had been previously overlooked in jewellery, such as ivory, opal and plique-à-jour – a translucent enamel applied with no backing, producing a stained-glass effect.

Impressive corsage by Vever. Faerber collection. ©Katharina Faerber

Henri Vever, collector, jeweller, historian

A prominent collector and jeweller, Henri Vever was also a historian of jewellery. His three-volume La Bijouterie Française au XIXe Siècle, published between 1906 and 1908, is the most comprehensive account of nineteenth-century French jewellery ever written. In 1924, a year before he retired, he donated his collection of more than 350 items of jewellery, including some sixty by Vever, to the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris. After several difficult years, the company closed in 1982, to be reopened in 2021, exactly two hundred years after it was founded, by brother and sister Camille and Damien Vever, the seventh generation of the Vever family.

Vever’s fame was on a par with that of René Lalique (who worked for Vever). Both were awarded a Grand Prix at the 1900 World’s Fair in Paris, yet for no explicable reason, one is remembered as a leading representative of Art Nouveau while the other has slipped into obscurity.

Returning to the chrysanthemum corsage, this style of Art Nouveau brooch (also known as a stomacher or a devant de corsage) is a delicate exploration of forms from the natural world, and was the height of fashion in the early twentieth century. It was acquired by Louis Metman, a curator at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris from 1898 until 1943 and a great connoisseur of Japanese art.

René Lalique and Vever showcases at the 1900 World’s Fair in Paris. Archives: Vever, Paris, Musée des Arts Décoratifs. Courtesy of Faerber Collection

The many nuances of Mississippi pearls

The piece is currently owned by the Faerber Collection. “We acquired it from the Parisian dealer Michel Périnet in November 2005. He was one of the first to understand the beauty of Art Nouveau and Art Deco pieces. When he closed his business, he asked if I would like to buy it,” says dealer and collector Thomas Faerber. Asked why he purchased it, he answers in a shot: “I’d never seen anything like it! Corsage ornaments were designed to be pinned to the bodice of a lady’s gown. Michel Périnet told me that this one had been shown at the Paris World’s Fair in 1900. We even found a photograph of its display cabinet at the fair.” Henri Vever’s descendants kept a letter, dated March 10, 1909, in which the jeweller explains why he chose Mississippi pearls: “The shades and markings [on the pearls] have always existed. As I mentioned yesterday, they were chosen with the utmost care, the intention being to avoid the cold appearance of uniform whiteness and give the petals a picturesque hue close to that of nature’s fantasy.” As Thomas Faerber explains, “Mississippi pearls come from the river of the same name. Each has a different elongated shape. Tiffany was one of the first to incorporate them into jewellery.”

Letter from the jeweller Henri Vever dated 10 March 1909, explaining his choice of Mississippi pearls. Courtesy of Faerber Collection

An Art Nouveau masterpiece

The Vever corsage is mounted in gold and blackened silver, set with diamonds. Delicately shaped leaves have been worked in green plique-à-jour enamel. The finished piece is utterly exquisite and extremely fragile. Fortunately, it has always been kept in its original case, hence its beauty has remained intact, without any restoration. The chrysanthemums can be detached and worn as brooches or as hair ornaments. “There are very few major pieces by Vever on the market today. This corsage is a masterpiece,” says Ida Faerber, director of Faerber International Trading SA. “It combines several factors. First the design, on the cusp of nineteenth-century and Art Nouveau. Then the avant-garde use of Mississippi pearls, as well as the impressive size and its condition: it’s 124 years old, it’s a wonder it’s still intact! That the back is as beautiful as the front is the mark of a great jeweller.”