Jewellery, Watches and Objects of Vertu

A pair of leaf-shaped earclips, by J. Lacloche, mid 20th century, the polished leaf-shaped clips each centred with a sweep of claw set round-cut sapphires, mounted in yellow gold, both bearing French eagle’s head assay mark and numbered ‘5216’, one signed ‘J. Lacloche, Paris, Cannes’, earclip length 22mm. £300-500

The firm Lacloche Frères was founded by four brothers: Leopold, Jaques, Jules and Fernand. Folllowing the death of Jaques in 1900, the three remaining brothers opened a store at Rue de la Paix in Paris and went on to produce arguably some of the finest jewellery of the Art Deco period. Jaques’ son, also called Jaques, joined the firm and was trained by his uncles; in 1920 he was entrusted to run the business in London. Following the crash of 1929 the firm Lacloche Frères closed, but in 1936 Jaques Lacloche opened a small store in Cannes and shortly after, another store in Paris, where he remained until the early 1960s selling bold and brilliant jewels in the fashionable styles.