File:Giraffe necklaces and bacelets - Jean Dunand (27874687259).jpg

"Giraffe" necklaces and bacelets on display as part of the "Jazz Age" exhibit at the Cleveland Museum of Art in Cleveland, Ohio, in the United States.

Jean Dunand (1877-1942) was born in Lancy, Switzerland, as Jules-John Dunand. He studied sculpture at the Geneva School of Industrial Arts, graduating in 1896. He moved to Paris to continue his studies at the École nationale supérieure des arts décoratifs. He became an interior designer, and was elected to the Société Nationale des Beaux Arts in 1905. About 1910, he began working with Japanese laquerist Seizo Sugawara to learn lacquer techniques, an art form long abandoned in France. He became a naturalized French citizen in 1922. He was considered the greatest Art Deco lacquerist in France, working in a range of stayles that included Cubist-like and Art Nouveau-like genres.

Art Deco artisans were fascinated by African art, much of which was finally making its way to Europe as art (rather than the spoils of colonialism). The design of these necklaces and bacelets is remarkably similar to a number of indigenous African pieces. Dunand called these "giraffe" necklaces and bacelets, because a woman who wore them would be an "exotic creature" like a giraffe. They became highly fashionable among celebrities of the day.

These necklaces and bacelets, made about 1927, are of Oréum, covered in either red and black or blue and black lacquer. Oréum was the trademarked name for a metal alloy created by a French chemist named de Mazarin in 1902. It mimicked the quality of gold in its brightness, durability, and resistance to oxidation.

1. CMAJazzAge