82

French Belle Epoque Silver and Enamel Chatelaine
third quarter 19th century, by Leon Henri Souloy (1844-1889), Paris, first standard (.950) silver with 18k yellow gold accents, in the form of three graduated oval plaques, each with grisaille enamel scenes of cavorting putti, within rose-cut diamond-set ribboned wreaths, suspending a watch swivel and flanked by chains en suite, one with seal, one with watch key, together with the original matching gold-plated watch cover and an associated 18k yellow gold lady's open-face watch, with an approximate total diamond weight of 2.60 carats, all presented in the original burgundy velvet- and cream satin-lined case. l. (excluding watch) 4-3/4", w. 2", watch cover dia. 1-3/8", total weight 92.1 grams (including watch)

Notes: Louis Henri Souloy was born on November 7, 1844 in the Parisian suburb of Gentilly. He opened his jewelry store on rue Reamur in Paris at the beginning of what became known as la Belle Epoque in 1872. It was continued after his untimely death in 1889 by his widow, Victorien Leontine Bazire, and later his son, Leon Charles Souloy. The firm’s popularity among the Parisian elite is evidenced by the younger Souloy’s involvement in the infamous l’Affaire Steinheil in 1908, in which socialite Marguerite “Meg” Japy Stienheil, already infamous as the mistress of French President Felix Faure who had died during one of their trysts, was implicated in the murder of her mother and husband. Not initially a suspect, she drew attention to herself by accusing manservant Remy Couillard of the crime, and in whose possession a pearl from an Art Nouveau ring allegedly stolen during the murder was found. When Mme. Stienheil was invited to the surete for her testimony, she was confronted by jewelers Lucien Gaillard, who had originally created the ring, and Leon Souloy, who had, at her request, removed the pearl and kept the ring to refashion it. He gave the pearl to Mme. Steinheil, and the ring was still his possession. Confronted with this damning evidence of her contrivance to frame Couillard, she was arrested and tried for the murder. After an internationally sesational trial, she was acquitted; in her memoirs she dismissed her story of the ring having been stolen as a simple error of memory. She moved to London, where married Baron Abinger in 1917; she died there on July 17, 1954.

third quarter 19th century, by Leon Henri Souloy (1844-1889), Paris, first standard (.950) silver with 18k yellow gold accents, in the form of three graduated oval plaques, each with grisaille enamel scenes of cavorting putti, within rose-cut diamond-set ribboned wreaths, suspending a watch swivel and flanked by chains en suite, one with seal, one with watch key, together with the original matching gold-plated watch cover and an associated 18k yellow gold lady's open-face watch, with an approximate total diamond weight of 2.60 carats, all presented in the original burgundy velvet- and cream satin-lined case.
l. (excluding watch) 4-3/4", w. 2", watch cover dia. 1-3/8", total weight 92.1 grams (including watch)

  • Notes: Louis Henri Souloy was born on November 7, 1844 in the Parisian suburb of Gentilly. He opened his jewelry store on rue Reamur in Paris at the beginning of what became known as la Belle Epoque in 1872. It was continued after his untimely death in 1889 by his widow, Victorien Leontine Bazire, and later his son, Leon Charles Souloy. The firm’s popularity among the Parisian elite is evidenced by the younger Souloy’s involvement in the infamous l’Affaire Steinheil in 1908, in which socialite Marguerite “Meg” Japy Stienheil, already infamous as the mistress of French President Felix Faure who had died during one of their trysts, was implicated in the murder of her mother and husband. Not initially a suspect, she drew attention to herself by accusing manservant Remy Couillard of the crime, and in whose possession a pearl from an Art Nouveau ring allegedly stolen during the murder was found. When Mme. Stienheil was invited to the surete for her testimony, she was confronted by jewelers Lucien Gaillard, who had originally created the ring, and Leon Souloy, who had, at her request, removed the pearl and kept the ring to refashion it. He gave the pearl to Mme. Steinheil, and the ring was still his possession. Confronted with this damning evidence of her contrivance to frame Couillard, she was arrested and tried for the murder. After an internationally sesational trial, she was acquitted; in her memoirs she dismissed her story of the ring having been stolen as a simple error of memory. She moved to London, where married Baron Abinger in 1917; she died there on July 17, 1954.

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