loading...
A.E. Köchert, the prestigious Viennese jeweller which served the Imperial House of Austria for four generations was founded in 1819 thanks to the alliance of two gifted jewellers and brothers-in-law, Emanuel Pioté and Jacob Heinrich Köchert.
From Limoges - city renowned for its enamelling art - Emanuel Pioté established himself in Vienna as a goldsmith and jeweller in 1811 and met fame in 1814 when the Prince Metternich became his client. Five years later, after an apprenticeship in St. Petersburg, Jacob Heinrich Köchert entered his workshop as a master goldsmith. The house of Köchert was born.
The combination of their skills – the French art of enamelling and the Russian setting techniques – definitely established themselves as coveted jewellers within the Austrian Court. In 1831, they were appointed jeweller to the Imperial Court and personal jeweller to the Emperor Franz Joseph in 1849. Thus, they made the famous diamonds stars of Empress Elisabeth of Austria which can be seen braided in her hairs on her well-known portrait by Winterhalter. They also crafted many refined and amazing tiaras for the House of Austria as well as for European Princesses and won the first prize for jewellery at the 1873 World Exhibition in Vienna.
Within the Art Deco period they remained famous and counted customers such as Richard Strauss thanks to Erwin Lang – the half-brother or Erich Köchert – who became their jewellery designer. Highly creative, he designed unique and delicate jewels recognizable with their stylized tulip motifs, their geometric abstract and fretwork patterns and the contrast between sizes and cuts in the stones used.
Today, the company is run by three cousins of the sixth generation.