Charles-Louis Wagner and Frédéric-Jules Rudolphi's partnership in Paris

By Marie-Elise Dupuis and Karolina Stefanski T he long business partnership and stylishly influential fashion of Charles-Louis Wagner (1799-1841) and Frédéric-Jules Rudolphi (1808 -1872)1 began when they met as master silversmith and apprentice in Paris in the 1830s. Although the Prussian-born Wagner and the Danish-born Rudolphi began geographically distant, their superb craftsmanship talents and similar design ideas sealed their collaborations in Paris for more than seven years. Charles-Louis Wagner (1799-1841) Born in Berlin, Charles-Louis Wagner (or in German: Karl Louis Wagner, 1799-1841) was educated in silversmithing, drawing, and jewelry design. He was established as a jeweler to the Court of Prussia at a young age and moved to Paris around 1829. Prussia was recovering from the Napoleonic wars and as a consequence, many artists left the country.2 Because of Parisian artistic traditions, the city was a popular destination for silversmiths and jewelers who were in need of work. Once settled in Paris, Wagner affiliated himself with his brother-in-law, the lapidary Augustin-Médard Mention (17851849). They opened their first workshop at 1 rue du Mail (Passage du Saumon, near Rue Montmartre) in 1834. Their business prospered so they established a second workshop at 14 rue des Jeuneurs. Mention et Wagner specialized in the manufacture of jewelry and silver objects. They signed their work with “M&W” in a lozenge. The company was known for their use of techniques in niello, enamel, and repoussé. Niello (a compound of sulfur with silver used for patina on silver objects) and the 22 March/April 2015 Silver Magazine so-called enameled Russian snuffboxes were known by Mention et Wagner. For their works, the company used both precious raw and cut stones, pearls, and diamonds.3 Mention et Wagner rapidly established themselves as indispensable in their artistic field because of the new impetus of creativity applied to the romantic era’s jewelry and silver as well as the revival of old techniques, hitherto forgotten or neglected (such as niello and enameling). The writings of the Duke of Luynes (1802-1867) regarding the report of precious metals dated 1851 attest to a major silversmithing footprint: “When Wagner appeared and began to renew the taste of art in silver, the momentum of his energetic and inventive spirit was very effective.”4 Wagner and the French revival of niello, enamel, and repoussé Wagner is known to have revived the silversmith techniques of niello, enameling, and repoussé. In 1829, he filed a patent for the costly technique of niello and its chemical hand-etching. The process involved a sulfur-based paste etched into silver, which filled itself in the hollow lines of the fusible metal and created a unique patina. The silversmith and jeweler became an expert in this ancient technique already widespread in Russia, especially in the cities of Tula and Vologda. Prussian statesman Christian Peter Wilhelm Beuth (1781-1853), founder of the Institute of Applied Arts in Berlin, helped Prussia’s economy to advance technologically by fostering local business through the introduction of new machinery (usually from England and France) or financial support for artisans traveling abroad. Through an invention of a mechanical process, Wagner printed a matrix on silver pieces, and discovered a less expensive way of etching with niello. In a long speech to the Society for the Encouragement of National Industry (Société d’Encouragement pour l’Industrie Nationale) in 1831, French painter and chemist Jean-François-Léonor Mérimée (1757-1836) wrote about the advantages of this invention and what it meant for the jewelry industry. He hoped that this technique would be adapted quickly in silver decoration.5 In 1832, the Society for the Encouragement of National Industry presented Wagner with a gold medal for his mechanical engraving process development. According to the jury of the Exhibition of French Industry Products in 1834, this technique would be a revolution in the industrial silver field.6 Mention et Wagner combined their new niello etching technique with that of enameling, which also called for the cast of metal oxides. Whether painted, opaque, translucent, or cloisonné,7 Mention et Wagner collaborated Fig. 1. Byzantine-Moorish style vase; silver gilt, enamel, and paste gemstones; Frédéric-Jules Rudolphi (Mention & Wagner); France, 1842-1844. Dimensions: 18 1/2 x 8 1/4 x 7 3/8 inches. Courtesy of Los Angeles County Museum. March/April 2015 Silver Magazine 23 ensuring careful attention not to pierce the silver piece. Repoussé was most popular during the Renaissance in Europe, but was abandoned during the nineteenth century. Former French silversmith Henri Bouilhet (1830-1910) wrote: “The Revolution and the wars of the First Empire that had skilled workers trained in the great schools of the eighteenth century, disappeared; the abolition of the guilds and of their privileges had destroyed these traditions. No more control over long apprenticeships, no more mandatory masterpieces were the norm. When the trouble subsided, the workshops of gold- and silversmiths had been closed for a long time; apprentices and journeymen, were enlisted in the army and sent to the front, they had forgotten the art of silversmithing.”10 One of Wagner’s competitors of the repoussé technique was the equally renowned French silversmith Antoine Vechte (1800-1868) whose ceremonial shields in the Renaissance Revival repoussé style were thought of as authentic productions of the sixteenth century. Wagner and Vechte were both credited with the revival of this particular technique. One of Wagner’s repoussé masterpieces is the silver vase entitled “Temperance and Intemperance” (Figure 2) commissioned by the Duke of Luynes in 1837. This piece was crafted according to a drawing by French sculptor and silversmith AdolpheVictor Geoffroy-Dechaume (18161892). Today, the vase is held in Fig. 2. “Temperance and Intemperance” vase; silver gilt, cast, and repoussé; Mention & the Louvre collection in Paris. It was Wagner, design by Adolphe-Victor Geoffroy-Dechaume; Paris; 1837-1839. Height: 24 3/4 completed in 1839 and presented at inches. Photo: bpk / RMN - Grand Palais / Paris, Musée du Louvre / Jean-Gilles Berizzi. the Exhibition of French Industry Products that same year. Repoussé and lost wax casting were the two main with French enamelers Gerser and one by Mention et Wagner, which 8 techniques of the piece’s central frieze Lefournier (Louis-Hippolyte-Auguste was presented at the Exhibition of creation. Wagner paved the way for new Lefournier, 1802-1859), and filed a French Industry Products in 1839 technical possibilities in the creations of patent in July of 1837 for the enameling (today in the collections of the 9 contemporary jewelry and silverware. on platinum alloy invention. Kunstgewerbemuseum, Berlin). The Los Angeles County Museum Mention et Wagner not only revived Creations in the Heart of the collection holds an example of this niello and enameling, but also the Romantic Era enameling technique (Figure 1). This technique of silver repoussé. This The Romantic Era, spanning from vase of Byzantine-Moorish style is a technique consists of shaping metal by about 1830 to 1850, emphasized the replica by Frédéric-Jules Rudolphi pushing it from the back with various irrational in man and the sublime (discussed later in this article) of the small steel tools into hollowware while 24 March/April 2015 Silver Magazine Fig. 3. Jewelry casket in the Renaissance style; silver-gilt, niello, enamel, lapis-lazuli, rubies, amethyst, and cameos; Mention & Wagner; Paris; 1832-1838. Length: 15 1/2 inches, weight: 7952 g. Photography Galerie Neuse, Bremen. in nature. It was characterized as a reaction against the order and restraint of neoclassicism, identifying the Enlightenment. During this period, Mention et Wagner created art pieces in a transitional style, one between neoclassicism and historicism. The company exposed their creations at both Exhibitions of French Industry Products (Exposition des produits de l’industrie française) in 1834 and 1839. These works, as well as techniques in which they are produced, turned resolutely to the past: artworks coming from the Far East, the Middle Ages, and especially from the Renaissance were favored. A staggering example of one of their creations is the silver-gilt, niello, and gem-set jewelry casket that was produced between 1832 and 1838 (Figure 3). This rectangular jewelry casket reflects the firm’s elaborately used techniques and is surmounted by a lapis lazuli panel, hinged to reveal a compartment with gilt-interior etched with arabesques. The cover border is finely decorated with stylized leaves against a nielloed background. The corners of the casket feature four putti, two females who hold miniature jewelry caskets and two males who hold a necklace of an emerald and two rubies. All four corners are applied with semi-precious stones and green enamel leaves. The entire piece was produced in a sixteenth-century taste, dating to the high Renaissance. One of the most prominent European jewelers of the early twentieth century, Henri Vever (1854-1942), confirms the strong and lasting influence that resonated in contemporary productions: “Wagner was the first to follow regarding jewelry, the example given by Fauconnier.”11 Although Jacques-Henri Fauconnier (1779-1839) is considered the major initiating silversmith of the nineteenthcentury Renaissance Revival style, it was Wagner who in 1834 during his first participation of the Exhibition of French Industry Products was awarded the gold medal for silver objects in Renaissance Revival style. He presented jewelry, bowls, weapons, etc. covered with flamboyant enamel colors, niello, and pearls, precious stones, and cabochon gemstones. The Duke of Orleans (Louis-Philippe I of France, 1773-1850) and his wife Duchess of Orleans (Marie Amélie Thérèse de Bourbon, princess of Naples and Sicily, 1782-1866), as well as the Princess March/April 2015 Silver Magazine 25 Figs. 4 & 5. Pair of figures - mermaid and merman; cast silver, enamel, baroque pearls, and carnelian; Frédéric-Jules Rudolphi; Paris; c. 1845. Height: 4 3/4 inches. Private collection. 26 March/April 2015 Silver Magazine Fig. 6. “Triumph of Amphitrite” jewelry casket; oxidized silver and parcel-gilt, enamel, colored glass, and pearls; Frédéric-Jules Rudolphi; Paris; c. 1851. Private collection: courtesy of H. Blairman & Sons, London. March/April 2015 Silver Magazine 27 Marie of Orleans (Marie Christine Caroline Adélaïde Françoise Léopoldine d’Orléans, 1813-1839) supported Wagner with regular commissions. Wagner affirmed Fauconnier’s taste for forms and decorative motifs from the twelfth to the sixteenth centuries. He collaborated with modelers and sculptors who supported this fashion, such as Jean- Jacques Feuchère (18071852), Jean-Baptiste-Jules Klagmann (1810-1867), Henry de Triqueti (18031874), and Adolphe-Victor GeoffroyDechaume (1816-1892). In 1839, Mention et Wagner again received a gold award medal for the silver Byzantine-Moorish style vase illustrated in Figure 1. The vase presents the portraits of St. Louis (Louis IX the Saint Capet of France, 12141270), his wife Margaret of Provence (1221-1295), along with their son Robert de Clermont (1256-1317), and his wife Beatrice of Burgundy (12571310). This piece was purchased by the King of Prussia Frederic-Guillaume III (1770-1840). Other examples were created in the Romantic Era and historicism style also. A prayer book for the Duke of Orleans represents on its binding a golden-blue foliage embossed cross on a black background; a medallion painted on an enameled plate depicts the Virgin Mary and Child; a cameo represents Psyche during her morning toilette and is produced as a mirror frame of enameled platinum alloy.12 These items were acquired by the Emperor of Russia Nicholas I (1796-1855) for the wedding of his daughter Marie Nikolaïevna (1819-1876) to Maximilian, Duke of Leuchtenberg on July 2, 1839, at the grand church of the Winter Palace. The company combined decorative motifs of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance with great inventiveness through niches, pinnacles, motifs of Jeanne d’Arc, Gothic canopies, gemstones held by females, putti, leather wraps, chimeras, winged women etc., including in the Moorish and Byzantine tastes. The decorative motifs of Mention et Wagner inspired creative jewelers and silversmiths of the mid- and late- 28 March/April 2015 Silver Magazine nineteenth centuries, including the Marrel brothers ( Jean-Pierre-Nazaire and Benoît-Roch Marrel), the FromentMeurice dynasty (François-Désiré [1801-1855] and Émile [1837-1913]), Jean-Valentin Morel (1794–1860), and Henri Duponchel (1794-1868). Vever asserts that “Wagner stimulated a new commercial development in the jewelry of [his] time”13 by becoming a leader of that vogue. The French writer of Polish descent, politician and professor of Legislation at the Conservatory of Arts and Crafts (Conservatoire des Arts et Métiers, 1839), Louis Wolowski (18101876) wrote about the 1849 Exhibition: “Silver remains and continues with consistency in the way that Wagner has started it, renewing the fine traditions for centuries where the silversmith walked beside the sculptor and the painter.”14 Hence, “no secret of chasing, repoussé, casting, has escaped them [the silversmiths]; all the graces of niello, engraving, enamels are culminated in their works.”15 The collaboration between Mention and Wagner ceased in 1841 because of Wagner’s death on his estate “La Saussaye” due to a shotgun accident. However, Wagner’s designs and art continued to endure through his apprentice, the highly talented Danish silversmith Frédéric-Jules Rudolphi. Rudolphi registered his maker’s mark in Paris on December 14, 1842. His maker’s mark was a lozenge with his initials “FR” circled by the symbol of a wheel (a tribute to his master Wagner) and that of a bird’s wing. Frédéric-Jules Rudolphi (1808 -1872) Frédéric-Jules Rudolphi was born in Copenhagen where he learned the art of chiseling. Noted for his excellent capabilities, he acquired a scholarship that allowed him to travel and study in Europe. He spent time in Vienna, Berlin, and London before he made his way to Paris. It was in 1835 when he found an apprenticeship at Mention et Wagner that the talented silversmith decided to settle in Paris permanently. This apprenticeship was very important and his clientele later considered his work of the highest quality partially due to his apprenticeship work with Wagner. In 1840, Rudolphi changed his status from simple “silver worker” to “collaborator” at Mention et Wagner. After Wagner’s sudden death in 1841, Rudolphi became the successor of the company on December 14, 1842. Rudolphi signed many of his silver pieces throughout his career with the signature: “Mr. Rudolphi, successor of Mention et Wagner, manufacturer of enamel and niello jewelry, chiseler, Russian snuff boxes, gemstones, works of art, objects of curiosity.”16 Rudolphi sometimes also added the words “sculpture of wood and ivory, china from Saxe, oriental weapons.”17 The signature further testifies the importance Rudolphi attached to his training at Mention et Wagner. His technical and artistic heritage highlighted a strong taste for the Romantic Era’s creations, which appealed most to his clientele and stimulated Rudolphi’s professional career. The Success and Awards of FrédéricJules Rudolphi In 1843 Rudolphi left 14 rue des Jeuneurs, Paris, to open an atelier at 11 rue du Mail. In 1844, Rudolphi presented his creations at the Exhibition of French Industry Products (Exposition des produits de l’industrie française) for the first time. He exhibited a silver enameled Byzantine-Moorish style vase (Figure 1) that had been exhibited in 1839, thereby affirming its affiliation with Mention et Wagner. For his predecessors (Mention et Wagner), he obtained a gold medal award in 1839. The jury commented on that first participation: “Mr. Rudolphi is a student and follower of Wagner. This silversmith has carefully applied to keep alive what his master had brought as perfection to the art. He religiously kept the memory of the [teachings and works of his master].”18 Rudolphi’s success continued steadily as he followed the exemplary path that Mention et Wagner had laid out for him. His works, especially his masterpieces, were in demand throughout the globe. In 1848, he opened a second Paris workshop at 3 rue Tronchet and during the Exhibition of French Industry Products of 1849 he was awarded another gold medal. At the London Universal Exhibition in 1851, he was presented with a crown award. The French presented Rudolphi with the Legion of Honor.19 Rudolphi also exhibited in the United States in 1853, where he received a silver medal award at an exhibition in New York. Through his steadily growing success, that same year Rudolphi opened a third Paris workshop at 23 Boulevard des Capucines. During the first 1855 Paris Universal Exhibition, Rudolphi received a first class medal, and The Art Journal Catalogue commented on his work: “From Mr. Rudolphi, English Art May learn much,”20 alluding to the British silversmiths to view Rudolphi’s work as an example. In 1858, Denmark honored Rudolphi, when the king of Denmark presented him with the Knight’s Cross of the Order of Dancbrog.21 At the Universal Exhibition of 1862, the British presented Rudolphi with a medal for excellence in design and execution. Finally, the Universal Exhibition of 1867, the last exhibition in which Rudolphi participated, he was awarded a silver medal. That same year Rudolphi collaborated with his son Frédéric Aristide under the name Rudolphi père et fils (Rudolphi father and son). By the mid 1860s, Rudolphi’s workshops were known throughout the city, with his two most predominant ones at Boulevard Haussmann and Boulevard des Italiens. From 1870, only Rudolphi’s son Frédéric Aristide appears in the Parisian trade directories. It is presumed that his father retired from the business and returned to Copenhagen. The maker’s mark of Frédéric-Jules Rudolphi was destroyed on September 17, 1872, indicating the death of the silversmith or simply a retirement from his profession. However, no trace allows us to confirm an exact date of death. A sale of more than two hundred silver objects (mostly oxidized silver and in bas-relief) was also held at the auction house Hôtel Drouot in Paris on March 7, 1873. The catalogue contained nine pages of bronze objects most of which were in the byzantine style. Frédéric-Jules Rudolphi in the Footsteps of Charles-Louis Wagner and Augustin-Médard Mention As previously noted, Rudolphi’s international success is partly due to the apprenticeship with Mention et Wagner. The silversmith followed in the footsteps of his predecessors, both stylistically and technically. Rudolphi’s creations relied heavily on perfectly mastered techniques of enamel, niello, and repoussé, which he learned from the master silversmith Charles-Louis Wagner. His creations testify to the Fig. 7. Silver tankard; set with rubies, and ivory inlaid with turquoise; FrédéricJules Rudolphi; Paris; 1855. Photography courtesy of Victoria and Albert Museum. styles from the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, and the Far East, and noticeably a taste for a mix of materials embellished the beauty. Most often, the creations included baroque pearls and other semiprecious stones. A merman statue held in a private collection (Figures 4 & 5) embodies this mix of styles and materials. His head and bust are created in a Roman antique style of carnelian; the body is composed of a single baroque pearl and bright blue enamel that is connected with the silver fishtail. The merman stands on a rock made of several baroque pearls and green enameled foliage. At the 1853 New York exhibition, a journalist commented on a statuette of St. George by Rudolphi, saying: “He has a silver head, gemstones as eyes, a pearl helmet with a plume of gold; his armor and his knees are huge […]; his arms and legs are covered with armbands and ‘legbands,’ he has gauntlets and armor feet of gold or silver.”22 Rudolphi’s distinct design style is obvious in another jewelry casket representing the Triumph of Amphitrite (Figure 6). This exceptional casket features figures en ronde bosse in silver, enamel, and niello techniques, as well as baroque pearls. There are references to the French Renaissance, including fine tracery or entrelacs of oxidized silver, bright polychrome enamels, semiprecious stones, pearls, four feet in the shape of sphinx busts, cut medallions evoking Italian architectural motifs, the core group being the monumental sculpture. In another work, Rudolphi featured the German Renaissance style in a tankard (Figure 7). The silver tankard is inlaid with turquoise and ivory and set with rubies. The tankard’s elaborately worked and pierced cover and handle allude to thirteenth-century ironwork. A Middle Eastern pattern is also evident as an influence in the tankard. The Rudolphi sales records of 1857 and 1873 present a magnitude of Rudolphi’s production including shields, vases, bottles, all in repoussé silver in the Renaissance style; some with an oriental or medieval influence. In the Moorish-style, silver caskets were enameled and inlaid with precious stones and pearls. This unique taste cultivated by Rudolphi did not preclude some sarcastic criticism; at the Universal Exhibition of 1862, in which the jury, because of the lavish use of Rudolphi’s lapis lazuli works, referred to his booth as a “blue shop at a distance.”23 Frédéric-Jules Rudolphi’s Renowned International Clientele Rudolphi continued to supply commissions to a renowned clientele throughout his career. His creations remained in high demand and stately March/April 2015 Silver Magazine 29 commissions were ordered from aristocracy and nobility worldwide. The Duke of Luynes wrote about Rudolphi and his creations: “These beautiful artworks and other masterpieces were selected examples of jewelry which gave Mr. Rudolphi great fame in England, Prussia, Russia, Egypt, America and India.”24 The jury at the 1844 Exhibition of French Industry Products reported that Rudolphi had “[clients] from all countries.”25 During this exhibition, Rudolphi presented silver objects he had created for his international clientele, amongst them were: a silver casket featuring the characters of David slaying Goliath mounted of pearls; several cups decorated with precious stones for the King of the Netherlands William II (1792-1849); a pendulum-mounted silver casket with pearls for the Princess of Butera Ottavia Spinelli (1779–1857); a clock of platinum inlaid with precious stones and several sabers for Prince Charles of Prussia (1828-1885); and a gold engraved sword for the south American military General Juan José Flores (1800-1864). The new school museum in South Kensington (later the Victoria and Albert Museum) acquired several artworks of Rudolphi’s. In 1851, they purchased two silver oxidized caskets, one featuring the toilette of Venus. Two more artworks were acquired in 1855, a steel oriental style vase and a tankard (Figure 7). Sometimes these prestigious artworks represented collaborations among several artists. In 1864, the imperial house of Austria commissioned a nécessaire de bureau (an office necessary) for the Archduchess Matilda (1849-1867) for her future marriage with Humbert of Italy (1844-1900). Rudolphi collaborated on this nécessaire (Figure 8) with world-renowned Prussian jeweler Jules Wièse (18181890) and the porcelain painter Feuillet Neveu. After all the appreciation, the highest recognition Rudolphi received was when the King Frederick VII of Denmark (1808-1863) purchased a silver table in 1851. He signed the table with “Goldsmith, jeweler to HM the King of Denmark.”26 It was exhibited at the 1852 Industrial Exhibition in Christiansborg before it was placed in the castle of Jaegerspris in 1856. Thereafter, Rudolphi manufactured for the King Frederick VII of Denmark successor, Christian IX (1818-1906), who ascended the throne on in 1863. One of his creations was a statue of gilded silver, lapis lazuli and enamel, representing the king wearing a military uniform on horseback (currently in the collections of the Amalienborg Museum in Denmark). The Prussian silversmith and jeweler Charles-Louis Wagner and his Danish apprentice and later successor FrédéricJules Rudolphi represent the few successful Paris silversmiths and jewelers of the mid- to late-nineteenth century that became internationally renowned. Paris was, as in previous centuries, the center of artistic creation and technical innovations attracting artists for work and inspiration from everywhere. Wagner and Rudolphi shaped their era’s tastes and influenced silver production and jewelry markets. They also renewed traditional silversmith techniques and brought them to a higher, more sophisticated level of craftsmanship. Their work is an example of fine expertise and successful international careers of the nineteenth century. NOTES 1. The death date of Rudolphi is not confirmed. It is based on the date when Rudolphi’s hallmark was destroyed. 2. The nineteenth-century Prussian silversmith Johann George Hossauer (1794-1874) immigrated 1815 to Paris to learn new techniques from French silversmith Vicomte de Ruolz and returned later to Berlin with the latest technologies and tools. 3. Almanach du commerce de Paris (Paris: Bureau de l’Almanach, numerous listings). 4. Duc de Luynes, “Travaux sur les métaux précieux (Works on Precious Metals),” Exposition universelle de 1851, travaux de la commission française sur l’industrie des nations (Paris : Imprimerie impériale, 1854, Tome VI), 68. 30 March/April 2015 Silver Magazine 5. Bulletin de la société d’encouragement pour l’industrie nationale (Paris: Imprimerie de Madame Huzard, 1831), 319-330, and 456-458. 6. Un âge d’or des arts décoratifs, 18141848 (Paris: RMN, 1991). There were eleven exhibitions of French Industry Products between 1798 and 1849. They developed and enhanced the French leading decorative and industrial arts. 7. Cloisonné, (French): An enameling technique that relates to a style of enamel decoration in which the enamel is applied and fired in raised cells (as of soldered wires) on a usually metal background. Resulting cellular spaces are filled with vitreous enamel paste that is fired, ground smooth, and polished. The earliest surviving examples are six thirteenth-century BC Mycenaean rings. The technique reached its peak in the West during the Byzantine Empire. For more information visit the concise encyclopedia, Merriam Webster dictionary - http://www.merriamwebster.com/dictionary/cloisonné. 8. J.-M. Leniaud, Entre nostalgie et utopie: réalités architecturales et artistiques aux XIXe et XXe siècles (Paris: Genève, Champion, Droz, Bibliothèque de l’École de chartes, 2005), 151. In this publication, the author writes that Jules Wièse said Gerser handled purely decorative motifs and Lefournier the other basic parts, which are enameled. “[…] Gerser se chargera des parties purement décoratives et Lefournier des motifs, qui sont encore peints en émail selon le même procédé que les tabatières, quoique sur une plus grande échelle […].” 9. Un âge d’or des arts décoratifs, 422. 10. H. Bouilhet, L’orfèvrerie française aux XVIIIe et XIXe siècles (Saint-Cloud: Belin frères, 1908, Tome 2),117118: “La révolution et les guerres du Premier Empire avaient fait disparaître les ouvriers habiles formés à la grande école du XVIIIe siècle ; la suppression des corporations, l’abolition de leurs privilèges, avaient détruit les traditions. Plus de maîtrise, plus de longs apprentissages, plus de chefs-d’œuvre obligatoires. Lorsque la tourmente s’apaisa, les ateliers des orfèvres avaient été fermés pendant longtemps ; les apprentis et les compagnons, enrôlés dans l’armée ou envoyés aux frontières, avaient oublié le métier.” Translation by Karolina Stefanski. 11. Henri Vever, La bijouterie française au XIXe siècle (1800-1900) (Paris: H. Fleury, 1906-1908, Tome 1),164: “Wagner fut le premier à suivre pour la bijouterie, l’exemple donné par Fauconnier. ” Translation by Karolina Stefanski. 12. For more information about these objects see: Anne Dion-Tenenbaum’s article “ La Renaissance de l’émail sous la monarchie de Juillet” in Bibliothèque de l’́cole des Chartres, t. 163, (2005), 145-164. 13. Vever, La bijouterie française, 165. 14. Rapport du jury central sur les produits de l’agriculture et de l’industrie exposés en 1849 (Paris: Imprimerie nationale, 1850, Tome 3), 310: “Elle (l’orfèvrerie) se maintient ainsi avec constance dans la voie que lui a ouverte Wagner, en renouvelant les belles traditions des siècles où l’orfèvre marchait à côté du sculpteur et du peintre.” Translation by Karolina Stefanski. 15. Ibid. “Aucun secret de la ciselure, du repoussé, de la fonte, ne leur a échappé (les orfèvres) ; toutes les grâces des nielles, de la gravure, des émaux, se retrouvent dans leurs œuvres.” Translation by Karolina Stefanski. 16. Almanach du commerce de Paris (Paris: Bureau de l’Almanach, multiple listings). 21. Revue des Beaux-arts (1858, Tome 9), 116. 22. L’Europe-Artiste ( July 10, 1853, Paris). Translated by Karolina Stefanski 23. Rapports des délégués ouvriers parisiens à l’exposition de Londres en 1862 (Paris: M. Chabaud, 1862, Tome 13), 634. Translation by Karolina Stefanski. 24. Duc de Luynes, Exposition universelle de 1851,162. 25. Rapport du jury central, 162-64. 26. Orsay Museum’s documentation, Paris, (accessed on February 2014). 17. Ibid. 18. Rapport du jury central sur les produits de l’industrie française en 1844 (Paris: Fain et Thunot, Tome 3), 7: “M. Rudolphi se présente comme élève et continuateur de Wagner. Cet artiste s’est appliqué avec soin à conserver ce que son maître avait apporté de perfectionnement à son art. Il a religieusement gardé le souvenir de son enseignement et de ses exemples.” Translation by Karolina Stefanski. 19. Attested in Annuaire du Commerce Didot-Bottin, (Paris, s.n from 1843); however, no document attests to this Legion of Honor at the National Archives: http://www.culture.gouv.fr/ documentation/leonore/recherche.htm (Legion of Honor database). 20. The Art Journal (London: Virtue & Co; and Paris: Stassin & Xavier, 1855). Marie-Élise Dupuis holds three Masters Degrees (two from the ́cole du Louvre - museology and art market - and one from the Université Paris Sorbonne - art history). She specializes in mid- and late-nineteenth-century decorative arts and lives in Paris. She can be reached at me.dupuis75@gmail.com. Karolina Stefanski is a PhD candidate in art history and decorative arts at the Technical University of Berlin and lives in Berlin. She holds a Masters Degree in art history from the Université Paris Sorbonne and specializes in early- to midnineteenth-century silver. She can be reached at kstefanski@mailbox.tu-berlin.de. March/April 2015 Silver Magazine 31