1935

Bird cage

Creation details

The bird cage—also known as the Maison d’Hortense (Hortense’s Home)— was an extravagant commission received by Van Cleef & Arpels in 1935, that originally consisted of a glass shelter intended for a tree frog, possibly belonging to a maharaja

While the name of the commissioner of this piece is not known, its purpose is verified by a gouaché featuring the batrachian. The preparatory drawings of this piece provide precious indications as to its origin and enable its creative history to be traced.

The multiple projects for an order

An initial series of preparatory drawings show four versions of this cage in yellow gold. Two of them are inspired by pavilion architecture. A third project consists of a trellis in the shape of an architectural niche. The last version displays the spherical contours of a piece of fruit crowned with four leaves and a stalk.

DRAWING OF VARIATION FOR A CAGE

Particular attention is paid to the frog’s natural environment in each of these drawings: a carpet of rocky formations in sculpted lapis lazuli dotted with branches of coral depict a welcoming natural setting. A ladder of yellow gold was planned, differently shaped in the various drawings, in order for the batrachian to be able to indicate climatic variations. According to popular belief, when a frog climbs a ladder, dry weather is forecast.¹

While these projects differ at first sight in terms of their form, they nonetheless concur in one way. All except the first are in line with the classical architectural heritage of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

When the Maison d’Hortense becomes a bird cage

A second series of three preparatory drawings transform the cage from one with bars to a glass one, still retaining an architectural analogy. In the gouachés of projects V and VII, the addition of a cut-out metallic plaque bearing the inscription “Maison d’Hortense” confirms the purpose of this work. The third of this series was the one chosen for the creation of this piece in 1935, as confirmed by a photograph and Renée Puissant’s signature on the gouaché. The Maison d’Hortense was transformed into a bird cage in 1944 and hosted two birds sculpted in green beryl and set with ruby eyes.