Style Art Nouveau / Ref.03133

Enamelled box Theophile Soyer representing Eve

Polychrome enamel and translucent enamel painted on copper.
Monogrammed “T.S.”. After 1896
After a composition by Lucien Levy-Dhurmer, 1896

The top of this round candy box presents a bust of Eve in profile, with bare shoulders, her arms crossed before her long flowing hair, holding an apple in her hand, the snake at her side. The snake, the curves of its body echoing the waving locks of Eve’s red hair, seems in conversation with her. They are set against a background of leaves and red apples. This composition created by Lucien Levy-Dhurmer in his painting “Eve” from 1898 (Michel Perinet Collection, Paris), was adapted here to the 'tondo' or round format. Twelve apple tree blossoms adorn the rim framing the composition.

The theme of Eve and the serpent is one of the most illustrated biblical stories, here she is shown at the moment just before the Fall. Adam is absent from this scene. The sensuality of the representation, her movement and flowing hair, suggests Eve symbolises the realm of the senses in opposition to the realm of the Spirit associated to Adam. No sense of condemnation here however, the box being used for mundane purposes. According the Leon Thevenin’s 1896 article on Levy-Dhurmer “ The pagan Renaissance”, in the artist’s work, “the woman exiled from Eden is a symbol of the pagan world, of the rule of nature and of the senses” .

Son of Paul Soyer (1832-1903), Theophile Soyer was first encouraged by his father to attend the Beaux-Arts, because he wished to add a fine arts dimension to the company he had created 4 bis rue Saint Sauveur in Paris. Later Theophile worked with enamels in Courbevoie, before joining his father’s company, which he took over in 1896. He officially began his artistic carrier in the Salon of 1870 and started participating in the Expositions de l’Union Centrale des Beaux-Arts appliqués à l’Industrie in 1876. His life work, was an active participation in the renaissance of painted enamels started in 1840 in France. Theophile Soyer’s style is recognisable by his use of the Art Nouveau type arabesque, and a depth of color and translucency especially of reds, which testifies to Théophile’s research. We can question his inspiration : is this work a copy of Levy-Dhurmer’s Eve or an active collaboration ?  Levy-Dhurmer was very interested in the decorative arts, creating ceramics but also a cartoon for a tapestry for the Gobelins company called “La Première floraison” representing Eve and the serpent in an Eden-like garden.

This box is an illustration of the collaboration between the fine arts and the decorative arts that was characteristic of the late 19th century, and shows the varied effects that painted enamels allow. The painting technique is similar to the Chiaroscuro; the relative transparency of the use of a small amount of tin oxide gives a jewel-like shimmer to the enamel; the background imitates a cloisonné design : the lines around the apple tree leaves, create a compartment effect and the manner in which this naturalistic motif is set against a dark background is reminiscent of a Chinese 'famille noire' wares. All these are testimony to Theophile Soyer’s fusion of techniques and styles.