RENÉ LALIQUE (1860-1945)

A variant of this model (‘Souverains Anglais’) was gifted by the City of Paris to King George VI and the future Queen Elizabeth during their official visit in France in June 1938. This visit was extremely significant in the tumultuous political environment of the late 1930s. The English Royal visit to the French capital was needed to reinforce the friendship between the two countries before World War II. An archival photograph shows the impressive Lalique display presented at the time, including ‘Souverains Anglais’ which incorporated the “Caravelle” design, depicting a rapid sailing ship, with its masts, splitting the waves. This motif was also used by Jean Dupas for his famous History of Navigation glass murals for the grand salon of the S. S. Normandie, circa 1934.