Gillot & Co. a rare Art Deco brooch

Gillot & Co., a rare Art Deco gem-set and diamond brooch, circa 1920, the bar brooch channel-set with a line of rectangular step-cut emeralds, sapphires and diamonds, terminating in calibré-cut rubies, within an open work frame of stylised lotus motifs in the Egyptian taste, set with calibré-cut emeralds, rubies and sapphires, to an outer border of single-cut diamonds, mounted in platinum, length 7.8cm, pin signed Gillot & Co. Inc.

Paul Gillot (circa 1877-1949) was an important creative driving force in American jewellery at the start of the 20th century. In his native France he trained as a draughtsman, and his 1898 entry into a jewellery design competition caught the attention of jeweller and jewellery historian/critic Henri Vever, who praised the young designer in print for his talent.

In 1902, he emigrated to New York and found employment at one of the most creative and prominent jewellers in America, Marcus & Co, whose doorman at the time would become an important American jeweller in his own right - Raymond Yard. Prized for his knowledge of pioneering Art Nouveau techniques such as plique-à-jour enamel, Gillot was an indispensable asset to these influential jewellers, and remained at Marcus & Co. for twelve years. Among his key commissions during this time was a gold laurel wreath crown, presented to the famed actress Sara Bernhardt when she performed in New York in 1913, now housed in the MFA Boston.

Shortly afterwards, Gillot left Marcus & Co. to enlist in the French army in the First World War, but injury and sickness cut his service short. When Gillot returned to New York and resumed trading in 1916, now under his own name, Bernhardt, whose renowned jewellery collection contained superbly imaginative jewels designed by René Lalique and Alphonse Mucha, became one his key clients, to the extent that he was later described as having designed 'the major portion of Sarah Bernhardts's jewellery' by the Yonkers Statesman in 1927.

Gillot is also said to have assembled an extraordinary collection of coloured diamonds, which briefly earned him the nickname 'the King of Diamonds', (a moniker later and more enduringly given to Harry Winston), and while his signed jewels are rare and seldom seen, when they do appear they are often set with stones of superb quality, reflecting his elite clientele and connoisseur's eye. The present brooch is no exception, set with a beautifully matched selection of step-cut sapphires, rubies, emeralds and diamonds, arranged in a stylish Art Deco bar brooch designed with subtle accents of the fashionable Ancient Egyptian revival style, making it a perfect testament to the talent and elevated taste that this French jeweller contributed to American design at the start of the 20th century.