SKINNER FINE JEWELRY AUCTION JUNE 16th Brilliant diamonds, rare art deco pieces and
a unique collection from Belle Epoque actress Réjane featured at Skinner Fine Jewelry Auction to be held on June 16th
Skinner, one of the nation’s leading auction houses, will host an auction of fine jewelry at its Boston gallery on Tuesday, June 16th at 10:00 a.m. Highlights include Art Deco jewelry by Boucheron Paris, important Arts & Crafts jewels, principally from famous Boston studio jewelers, antique European jewelry Réjane, a famous French actress, and large diamonds of high color with reports from GIA. More than 700 lots will be featured in the upcoming sale.
Réjane, Belle Epoque Actress: History and Royal Gifts of Jewels
A highlight of this sale is a number of beautiful pieces passed down in the family of the Belle Epoque actress Réjane (1865-1920). Réjane was a great actress of the Belle Epoque, and an early international celebrity. She was a star of the popular theater, the queen of French comedy, vaudeville and light drama. Her personality and intelligence also inspired the admiration of contemporary artists and intellectuals. She was the ideal Parisienne, a woman of inexplicable charm, elegance, and wit, and a leader of fashion.
A muse of the great Parisian couturier Doucet, Réjane was one of the best dressed women in Paris. Aubrey Beardsley sketched her at least six times in his brief career, and no less than three portraits by her friend, the celebrity portraitist Giovanni Boldini, survive. Albert Besnard’s 1900 Salon portrait of Réjane, in a flowing pink gown, was considered “epoch making” by contemporary writers, and was “continually surrounded by groups of worshippers and detractors”. Her likeness was also painted by John Singer Sargent, James Jacques Tissot and Toulouse-Lautrec. Although not a conventional beauty, Réjane inspired her admirers with what one theater critic called a “fascination” that went beyond admiration of her vivacity, animation and lovely voice. Her close friend and counterpart in the field of tragedy, the actress Sarah Bernhardt, considered Réjane a genius. Marcel Proust was first among the intellectuals who were friends and supporters of Réjane. She was an influence in the character of “La Berma”, the actress in Proust’s novel The Remembrance of Things Past. Proust told a contemporary journalist: “I have a cult for Réjane, the great lady who has worn by turns the twin masks (of comedy and tragedy), who has put all her intelligence and all her heart into her innumerable magnificent roles…” He claimed that the memory of her tragic performances sent him into fits of depression.
For many, Réjane represented the spirit of the age and what was best in French theater. When planning a flamboyant 18th century-themed costume ball, James Hazen Hyde, the heir to a vast New York fortune, made Réjane the centerpiece of the occasion. The Hyde Ball, heavily attended by high society, was perhaps the most lavish party of Belle Epoque America. Architects redesigned Sherry’s restaurant on Fifth Avenue to resemble the gardens at Versailles, complete with an orangerie, turf, armies of flunkies in period livery, several orchestras, and the dancers of the Metropolitan Opera. Réjane appeared as Marie Antoinette, alighting from a sedan chair, and performed a skit
