This pendant immediately attracts attention not only through its virtuoso design, but also through its strong three-dimensional composition and refined execution. It sparks curiosity about its maker: Paul-Gabriel Liénard. That his oeuvre remained so limited is clearly not due to a lack of talent, but rather to circumstances that redirected his career. What he might otherwise have created can only be imagined.
This rare lizard pendant is an exceptional work by the Parisian jeweller Paul-Gabriel Liénard. Executed in eighteen-carat gold and enamel, it depicts two lizards resting on an elongated branch. The dynamic posture of the animals and the subtle colour nuances in the enamel are particularly striking. Their tails curl upward and meet at the loop from which the pendant is suspended. Two baroque pearls are set at the centre and at the lower edge. The piece bears Liénard’s maker’s mark and can be dated between 1905 and 1910, the short period during which his maker’s mark was registered and he produced a number of remarkable jewels as an independent jeweller.
Art Nouveau Lizard Pendant
Lizards and Art Nouveau
In Art Nouveau jewellery, the lizard functions as a symbol of renewal, adaptability and vitality. While the motif has its roots in the Victorian fascination with reptiles—stimulated by scientific discovery and encounters with the exotic—it was reinterpreted within Art Nouveau in a more elegant and sensuous manner. Influenced by Japonisme, introduced through world exhibitions and the Paris gallery L’Art Nouveau of Siegfried Bing, French designers embraced natural, asymmetrical forms, flowing lines and organic motifs, as well as new materials such as horn, ivory and lacquer. Within this context, the lizard appears not as a scientific curiosity but as a refined, animated form, often rendered with pronounced three-dimensionality, fully in keeping with the movement’s sinuous visual language. Art Nouveau flourished from around 1890 to 1914 and was shaped by figures such as René Lalique and Georges Fouquet, as well as Eugène Grasset, Liénard’s teacher.
Pupil of Grasset
Liénard was born on 10 March 1880 in Paris, in the Rue Basse du Rempart. He was the son of Louis Appolinaire Liénard, a clerk at the Court of Auditors, and Claire Adam, director of higher education for women. After completing his studies at the École des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, he became a pupil of the leading designer Eugène Samuel Grasset (1845–1917). Grasset, a Swiss-born artist active in Paris during the Belle Époque, worked in graphic design, sculpture, furniture, textiles and jewellery, and is regarded as one of the pioneers of Art Nouveau. Under his guidance, Liénard refined his sense of line, ornament and style.
Drawings and Maker's Mark
In 1901 and 1902, Liénard participated in a drawing competition organised by the journal BJO, winning third and second prize respectively while completing his military service with the 39th Infantry Regiment. His drawings quickly gained international attention, and as early as 1901 were used by the Russian firm Bolin, court jeweller to the Tsars. From his first studio in the rue Joubert, his career developed rapidly: his maker’s mark was registered in 1905, and he exhibited at the Salon des Artistes Décorateurs and the Salon des Artistes Français, where he received a third prize, before establishing himself in 1907 at the rue Cambon and later at 18, rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré.
Fabricant de Bonneterie
During the First World War (1914–1918), Paul-Gabriel Liénard served as an officer in the French army and was awarded the Croix de Guerre. In 1923 he was appointed Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur.
After the death of his first wife, Jeanne Curtenelle, in 1920, Liénard remarried in 1925 to Lucille Marie Renée Dickson, daughter of textile manufacturer Émile Dickson. Described in the marriage certificate as fabricant de bonneterie, he had largely left jewellery-making to work within his in-laws’ business. From the mid-1920s he travelled regularly to New York as an artist-designer and later as an importer and acted there as a representative of the French veterans’ organisation Croix de Feu.
Limited Oeuvre
It is precisely because of this relatively short but intensive period as an independent jeweller that Liénard’s oeuvre remains limited. Only a small number of jewels are illustrated in the literature and can be securely attributed to him. The present whereabouts of several of these pieces are known. The Museum of Fine Arts Boston holds one piece by Liénard in its collection: a large, elongated Seaweed brooch (c.1908). The Qatar Museums collection includes the Myosotis tiara (c.1905) in gold, horn, diamonds and pearls. The Hessisches Landesmuseum in Darmstadt owns four smaller jewels by Liénard. In the standard reference work on French jewellery by his contemporary Vever, eleven works are illustrated, all dated between 1905 and 1908, but their current locations are unknown.
This pendant with lizards belongs to this rare group and clearly demonstrates Liénard’s strengths: technical refinement, naturalistic animal motifs and an elegant, distinctive Art Nouveau style.
With grateful acknowledgement to Mr. Richard Jean Jacques
