Collection Online as of February 3, 2023

Seashell (Coquillage) Compact

c. 1953–56

designer

Jean Schlumberger

(French, 1907–1987)

France

18 karat gold

Overall: 33 x 25.4 x 10.2 cm (13 x 10 x 4 in.)

Nancy F. and Joseph P. Keithley Collection Gift 2020.203

Location

not on view

Fun Fact

A billowy powder puff made of snow white down plucked from a French swan nestles within this solid gold compact.

Description

One of the most celebrated Parisian designers of jewelry and luxurious accessories, Jean Schlumberger created this compact during the height of popularity for the sunny French Riviera. From the beach clubs of St. Tropez to the casinos of Monte Carlo, fashionable women wore jewels and powdered their noses both night and day. The seashell motif no doubt appealed to such society mavens, enjoying the post-war prosperity of France in the 1950s.

Inscriptions

Inscription

Marked, interior lid: SCHLUMBERGER-3-

Provenance

2014

(Sotheby's, New York, NY, November 20, 2014, Lot 236, sold to Nancy F. and Joseph P. Keithley)

2009–2020

Nancy F. and Joseph P. Keithley, Cleveland, OH, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art

2020–

The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH

Exhibition history

Impressionism to Modernism: The Keithley Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 11, 2022-January 8, 2023).