An Art Deco White Metal & Guilloche Enamelled Pencil Holder & Cover

Origin: English
Period: Art Deco
Provenance: Unknown
Date: c.1935
Compact Length: 3 inches
Assembled Length: 5 inches
Width: 0.5 inches

Of ovoid form, with a vibrant all over design in turquoise enamel with white dots, a white metal collar and fitting pencil. There is a loop at one end of the cover, so it can be easily attached to a rope or chain. The pencil is very good and bright condition, with no loss to the enamel, and no dents to the metal.

Guilloche is French for 'engine-turning', which is the mechanical cutting of lines on metal to create a design. The over-coating of the transparent enamel in these lines creates a brilliant reflective effect when the pencil is moved from side to side. One of the most famous jewellers to employ this technique was Carl Fabergé (1846 1920) who impressed critics with his enamel work when he represented Russia at the Paris World Fair in 1900.

The term Art Deco encompasses the distinctive styles in art, architecture and design from 1925, until the late 1930s, and is typified by bright bold colours (such as turquoise), and stylized designs derived from the onset of industrialism, as well as artistic movements such as modernism, cubism, and futurism. It is one of the best loved, most influential, instantly recognisable, international, and elegant of all artistic periods.