Art Deco Cigarette Case, 935 Silver, Lacquer and Eggshell

This beautiful cigarette case from the Art Deco period, circa 1920, bears a German or Austrian hallmark, unfortunately (for the moment) undeciphered. Very Japanese-inspired — right down to its radiant red and white pattern reminiscent of the stylized rising sun of the Japanese imperial flag — it is decorated with bands of red lacquer alternating with bands of white “Rankaku” lacquer, “eggshell”. This is certainly very meticulous work, like a micro-mosaic, which is done with tweezers. The pieces of shell are placed in a layer of fresh lacquer. After several layers of lacquer, a smooth, shiny and delicate appearance is obtained. This very old traditional technique was originally created by Japanese lacquerers, in order to obtain white in lacquered decorations (vegetable lacquer is in fact too naturally colored to obtain this white color). The fragments of shells (chicken, duck or quail) are placed edge to edge on the support coated with a layer of fresh lacquer, to create this mosaic effect, which is initially drowned in the lacquer, but reappears when sanded. The different layers applied successively fill the gaps, the surface becomes smooth, revealing subtle nuances of cracked white. Several sandings are often necessary, which requires a very long development time (sometimes up to several weeks, depending on the drying time required, and the surface to be covered).