Noucentista Masriera medal-brooch in 18K yellow gold with rubies and “plique-à-jour” enamel

We present our magnificent Masriera brooch-medal, a noucentista piece made according to the original drawings of Lluis Masriera. Made of gold with diamonds, ivory and opaque and plique-à-jour enamel, this piece is a perfect example of Masriera’s designs during the Noucentista period.

Noucentisme, a term coined by the writer Eugeni D’Ors, was an aesthetic, artistic and literary movement that in Catalonia also had political content with the creation of the Mancomunitat (1914). With the term, D’Ors wanted to designate the tendencies that separated themselves categorically from the forms inherited from the 19th century at both the literary and artistic levels. It represented a reaction against modernism, which was seen as romantic and decadent, and pursued a formal aesthetic that valued the well-made work with harmony and proportion and proposed a completely different feminine ideal. If the woman in modernism was a fragile and ethereal nymph, “La ben plantada” constituted the ideal of the noucentista woman. He searched for “classical roots” inspired by the discovery of Ampurias and welcomed “exotic” influences in his aesthetics such as Egyptian themes, or Russian ballets, very much in vogue at the time.

Lluis Masriera, the most important of the Masriera lineage of jewelers and emblematic figure of modernism is also an important figure in noucentisme. Under the most conservative parameters of classical inspiration and formal aesthetics, he creates pieces adorned with classic feminine profiles, framed in geometric shapes. The headdresses, such as the one worn by the figure in this piece, are reminiscent of Russian ballets of the period. Born in Barcelona in 1872, Masriera studied the Limoge enameling technique in France and makes exquisite use of opaque enamel and the famous “plique-à-jour”, a technique that consists of applying the enamel in small spaces in the manner of stained glass without any support on the finished piece.

The brooch features 48 brilliant-cut diamonds making 0.48 cts and is a certified and numbered piece. It has a diameter of 3.5 centimeters and weighs 13 grams.