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Between all of the prestigious French and American jewelers during the 1920s, the work of one man is responsible for arguably the finest clocks and cases from jewelry houses including Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels, Lacloche and Black, Starr & Frost. These exceptional pieces feature the masterful craftsmanship and artistry of Vladimir Makovsky.
An artist and jeweler of the highest caliber, Vladimir Makovsky (1884-1966) was born in Russia, son of a family of Russian painters, but later emigrated to Paris during the Russian Revolution. Like many of his fellow Russian emigrés, the master craftsman honed his unique technique to the point when he was considered the best in Europe, even rivaling the skill of those in Asia where the art of inlay had originated centuries earlier.
Different from the "lacque burgauté," Makovsky perfected the technique of making miniature mosaics based on the Chinese lacquer, hardstone and mother-of-pearl inlays of the 18th and 19th centuries, Islamic friezes and miniatures, with a number of his designs including European narrative genre-scenes. The plaques and panels he produced, of tinted mother-of-pearl and a mixture of hardstones on a mother-of-pearl background, would be used in jeweled accessories, boxes, vanity cases and ornamental clocks from the major jewelry houses of the day.
With a nod to his home country, his miniature scenes are reminiscent of Bilibin's illustrations for Russian fairy tales, which were very popular in the 1920s.