1870 French ‘Rosebud’ Locket with Diamonds

A lovely c. 1870s French 18k gold locket from the workshop of Eugène Soulens (1829-1906), decorated with relief-worked rosebuds encrusted with rose-cut diamonds and embellished with pink enamel. The smooth, satin-finished locket body is a continuation of 1860s design, which favored sleek gold surfaces as a rather ‘purist’ demonstration of the jeweler’s skill, for such smoothly finished surfaces cannot hide blemishes in form, lines, or execution. The single sprig of rosebuds is worked with careful attention to detail: the stems are textured throughout, with sharp thorns for both poetry and verisimilitude; a single seed pearl cap the stem bottom; the rosebud sepals are lined with diamonds and pearls. The overall modeling of the rosebuds is graceful and informed by the era’s fascination with botanic naturalism. Paris eaglehead punches for 18k gold can be found to the bail and locket interior; the third mark, a lozenge with the initials ‘ELS’ for Eugène-Louis Soulens, represents the Parisian jewelry firm Soulens. A detailed history of the firm can be found on p. 1035-40 of “French Jewelry of the Nineteenth Century” by Henri Vever. Established in 1864 by Eugène Soulens, the workshop was located on No. 7, Rue Vivienne (next to the Bibliotheque Nationale) and employed 18 jewelers. In his time, Eugène Soulens enjoyed a reputation as an excellent jeweler, having apprenticed for the famed Alexis Falize beginning at age ten, becoming one of the best jewelers at Falize, and then going on to become a pupil of Paul Robin, also a giant of the period. Yet another great jeweler, Frédéric Boucheron, was Soulens’ friend and fellow pupil at Paul Robin’s workshop. A similar rosebud locket from the 1870s is illustrated on page 818 of Henri Vever’s book.
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