Pierre Vever
( Founded 1821 - Closed 1982)
Pierre Vever was born in France in 1795. He opened a jewelry shop in Metz France in 1821. His business was very prosperous. Maison Vever‘s clientele were wealthy families in France and also
Luxembourg and the Rhine providences. In 1848, Pierre handed his business to his son Jean Jacques Ernest (1823-1884). Ernest had already been in long apprenticeships in Hanau and Vienna.
In 1861, Ernest exhibited several designs at the World Fair in Metz. Some of the designs featured gothic holy-water stoup in silver, a Byzantine chalice in vermeil, bracelets, brooches, jewelry sets and necklaces in gold, set with brilliants. Ernest took inspiration from the past.
In 1871, the Vever family moved to Paris and Ernest opened a shop. In 1874, Ernest was appointed judge of the Tribunal de Commerce in the Seine region, and in 1875, he became President of the Jewelers and Goldsmiths Trade Association in which he served until 1881, the year he retired. Ernest had two sons Paul and Henri, ages twenty and seventeen respectively. Paul studied at the Ecole Polytechnique, while Henri received a technical and artistic education. Henri was an apprentice at Loguet Brothers and after getting a degree as a craftsman, began working with Hallet where he learned the crafts of jewelry-making and stone-setting. Henri also studied professional design under Dufoug and later attended evening classes at the Ecole des Arts Decoratifs where he studied painting for two years under Millet and Gérôme.
In 1874, both Paul and Henri Vever became partners with their father Ernest. Paul assisted with the administration and commercial aspects of the business while Henri helped manage the artistic side. In 1878, The House of Vever participated in the Exposition Universelle in Paris. Although Ernest Vever could not participate since he was a judge, he presented designs that featured jeweled bouquets, parures in the classical style studded with emeralds, and a necklace in the Greek style set with pearls and brilliants. Worthy of mentioning was an Assyrian necklace in cased gold that had a triple interwoven chain hung with palms and lotus flowers in alternation with rectangular tablets resembling cylindrical seals, each decorated with an animal (ox, lion, wild boar or insect).
In 1881, Ernest Vever retired and handed over his business to both hi sons Paul and Henri. Vever’s son’s contribution resulted in the firm’s reputation of the finest jewelers in Paris. In 1889, at the Exposition Universelle, The House of Vever, was awarded one of the Grand Prix for jewelry design, the other Grand Prix was awarded to the House of Boucheron. One the designs at the exhibition featured a parure set with diamonds of every color and a tiara with a 54-carat golden diamond as the center stone, surrounded by diamond “sun rays.”
Vever’s jewelry favored flowers as a source of inspiration for their work as goldsmiths. Among the items in its collection the Musee des Arts Décoratifs in Paris has a silver sugar bowl and coffee pot decorated with eucalyptus leaves, Virginia creeper convolvulus flowers and roses, all executed in repoussé. The House of Vever became also famous for their new techniques and different methods of applying enamels such as: translucent enamel “a jur” enhanced an Oriental-style lamp, while enamel painted in the Limoges style was used for a portrait of Vittoria Colonna by Paul Grandhomme and bassetaille enameling was applied to a small, round mirror, with a scene in the medieval style.
The Vever brother’s jewelry motifs showed significant eclecticism, taking inspiration from classical times, the Middle Ages, the East, and eighteenth Century France, which is evident in their bracelets decorated with pastoral scenes or the fables of La Fontaine. In 1891, a French Exhibition was organized in Moscow, Russia, and The House of Vever presented designs that featured six parures of exceptional rarity. One was adorned with white pearls, while the others were studded with sapphires, rubies or emeralds and one featured black pearls mounted with clusters of brilliants. They also presented bonbonnieres in rock-crystal set with enamel and diamonds, flagons of hard stones, and a series of flowers and butterflies in gold and silver covered with semi-transparent, iridescent enamel.
The “Art Nouveau,” movement gained popularity in 1900, and its principal themes of flora and fauna became linked with the female form. Jewelers combined precious metals with other materials, in contrast to the art of mounting stones where settings were concealed by the gems. The House of Vever always attached great importance to the beauty and worth of gems and retained what has been described as “a bias in favor of precious stones.” Henry Vever used themes such as honesty, mistletoe, thistle, eucalyptus leaves, fuchsia, nasturtiums and cyclamen, which he fashioned in opal, ivory and enamel. That same year The House of Vever was present at the Exposition Universelle where they introduced a number of exceptional and creative pieces. Among them was a fern tiara, which had jagged diamond-studded leaves that encircled the temples and then curled upwards from the forehead, where they were decorated with a large yellow diamond; a comb that had five teeth in pale tortoiseshell, its upper part adorned with a coil of green enameled mistletoe leaves, spangled with pearls.
The metal jewelry featured items in chased and enameled gold. One pendant that attracted substantial attention was beautifully decorated with the profile of a Breton girl wearing a traditional headdress. It was fashioned in ivory, opal and enamel against a background of flowering broom. The House of Vever also presented about twenty pieces which were the result of a working partnership with the designer Eugene Grasset. Grasset decorated his jewelry with mythical female figures, animals or flowers. Swimming nymphs appeared in brooches or the upper part of a comb. One of the most successful pieces was a brooch in the form of a woman’s head in profile, her hair adorned with a daisy and also a pendant called Poesie, one of the most feminine pieces among Grasset’s designs which featured a young woman with long blonde hair, playing the lyre. The House of Vever was honored with a Grand Prix, especially for its setting of stones. The success of Art Nouveau was momentary, and the House of Vever adopted their work to changing tastes and moved towards geometric shapes and more neutral tonality.
In 1907, Vever was moved to 14 Rue de la Paix. At the opening of their new store they introduced a new collection of jewelry using platinum instead of silver for jewelry mounts, making it possible to fashion extremely fine threads, which were then pierced so that stones could be inserted. On May 13, 1915, Paul Vever died. In 1921, Henri Vever at age 67 handed his share of the business to his nephews André and Pierre, Paul’s sons. André and Pierre were unable to maintain the reputation of the family house. During 1924-1925, André and Pierre acquired the House of Linzeler. After 1927, the workshops at 14 Rue de la Paix, and the production of jewelry was entrusted to two or three studios that worked for Vever. In 1960, the House of Vever was taken over by Jean Vever, a grandson of Paul who had worked with his uncles since 1934. The House of Vever was closed in 1982.
