André Chervin Volume 45.3
WINDY WINTER BONSAI IN EGGSHELL PLANTER III of eighteen karat yellow gold, sterling silver, bronze, crushed glass, semiprecious stones and colored glass pebbles, padauk wood, eggshell mosaic, enamel, and rubies, 9.8 × 12.2 × 7.0 centimeters. Photograph by David Behl.
ANDRÉ CHERVIN, 2014.
A recently closed exhibition, tucked away on the second floor of the New-York Historical Society, hadnestled within its dark, warm confines a treasure trove rarely seen. While the largest jewelry companies such as Cartier, Tiffany & Co., Fabergé, Bulgari, and Van Cleef & Arpels became synonymous with luxury, there were many contemporary small studios, and individual artisans who were behind that magnificent work. André Chervin and Serge Carponcy began Carvin French Jewelers in 1954, with seed money amounting to a total of $2,000. Chervin had immigrated to the United States from France, and it was in New York that he found his new life taking root.
The Frenchman met his partner while the two men were working at the famous Louis Féron jewelry firm. The two men established a rapport through their dedication to technique, and eventually left Louis Féron to found their own firm. Illustrating their sense of humor, they formed Carvin as a portmanteau of their last names, added French to celebrate their gallic roots, and rented a space on 12 East and Fifty-Second Street.
While Féron, whom they had left, was known for his expertise in chasing, Chervin and Carponcy made their name through their masterful enameling technique. Their native talent and attention to detail garnered them numerous contracts with famous jewelry design firms. They also had arrived at a moment when American jewelry manufacturing had largely left detailed handwork in favor of casting and other methods of mass-production. As such, their skills were in high demand. Raymond C. Yard, who rose through the ranks of Marcus & Co., and Raphael Esmerian, a noted European gemstone dealer, were both early employers of Carvin French.
The work on display exhibited not only luxurious materials and fine craftsmanship, but a lilting and charming wit that never gets too deeply weighed down by the gravity of the precious gems, gold, silver, and platinum that form their structure. A mouse wearing a sailor costume? Two saucy scoundrels, heads peeking over the top of a tub, outrageous monocles in place? These are the characters produced by André Chervin and his partner over the firm’s seventy year history. But wait, there’s more, and more, and more. An ostrich, its feathers rendered in shining diamonds, each like a glistening bead of water, is transformed from a dirty bird into a queen of the savannah, her pinioned bustle full of flounce.
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As is often the case, marketing, branding and name recognition claim the largest share of attention, but a keen eye will delight in the works made by André and Serge. Rather than relying on a surfeit of precious gems (although the company does not shy away from encrusting a surface in diamonds), Carvin French has a focus on using the right material for the right role, and in innovative ways. Carved semiprecious stones, like the luminescent ametrine and white topaz used in the Charming Snake and Beehive Egg boxes, achieve a magical quality when they serve as the canvas for intricate entities. The small snake, likely a racer or a garter, wraps its coils around itself, head nestled within the cavity. The miniature beehive, hexagonal cells glowing a pearlescent white, are each incised from a massive chunk of white topaz. Several bees perch lightly atop the curved hive, and like the charming snake, are drawn out from the background by virtue of two ruby eyes.
Several pieces in the exhibition bear credits to Fulco di Verdura, an Italian jewelry designer and duke. Verdura found his own unusual beginnings through an introduction to Coco Chanel in 1925. Chanel quickly uncovered his talents for metalsmithing and gemsetting, and the two would collaborate for eight years starting in 1927. Verdura was inspired by his first meeting with Chervin in 1952, and began to work with the workshop for a new series of enamel jewelry. Several of his pieces, including a blue and green enamel necklace made in a style reminiscent of ancient Egypt, and a charming emerald green frog brooch studded with sapphire droplets, were present in the exhibition, among those commissioned by other jewelry designers.
LOTUS LEAVES NECKLACE designed by Fulco di Verdura of yellow diamonds, eighteen karat yellow gold, blue and green enamel, 1964. Verdura Archives. Photograph by Patrick R. Benesh-Liu. CHARMING SNAKE BOX of ametrine, rubies, emeralds, and eighteen karat yellow gold. BEEHIVE EGG BOX of white topaz, rubies, sapphires, and eighteen karat yellow gold. Photographs by Patrick R. Benesh-Liu. GOLD FROG BROOCH designed by Fulco di Verdura of sapphires, rubies, eighteen karat yellow gold, and enamel, 1962. Originally from the collection of Mrs. William Verdura Archives. Photograph by Patrick R. Benesh-Liu.
These collaborations give us glimpses into the character of the men involved, as other pieces of jewelry not designed by Verdura grant us points of comparison. The Italian must have loved greens and blues, as both his Gold Frog brooch and Lotus Leaves necklace offer startling contrasts between bright hues. Verdura was unusual for the time as he had a close working relationship with the craftsmen making his designs. His series of enamel jewelry, produced by Carvin French, helped elevate the jewelry firm’s reputation as master enamelists. Through this partnership, fine enamel jewelry became popular.
In contrast, a small brooch of a mouse in a blue sailor suit (in fact, Stuart Little of E.B. White fame), designed by Donald Claflin of Tiffany & Co., presents a tender wit accomplished with gentle incongruency. It was Tiffany & Co. which gave Carvin French the bulk of their business during the 1960s, when Claflin was the lead designer. It was immediately apparent to him that Carvin French offered capabilities beyond those of other New York jewelers, and put them to work crafting delightfully whimsical designs.
The story of Carvin French Jewelers is an educational one. Many of the big names in jewelry contract individual pieces to small workshops and artists, (as Tiffany & Co. does today with David Freda, another master enamelist) so while the jewelry firm gains the recognition and fame, the true makers go relatively unnoticed. In the case of André and Serge, their dedication, talent and skill made their studio highly successful, and their legacy remains in each piece of jewelry they made.
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The connections that people share can be remarkable, and while writing this article, I was reminded by my father, Robert, that Ornament had written on Tiffany & Co. designer Angela Cummings, who was Claflin’s successor, way back at our beginning as a magazine. Cummings started working at Tiffany’s under Claflin himself in 1968. She would continue the partnership begun by Donald, until she separated from Tiffany & Co. in 1984. Serge Carponcy would retire from Carvin French in 1983, leaving André as the sole owner. The firm is still open, with several Chervin family members having become part of the business.
While jewelry was displayed at “Enchanting Imagination,” the exhibition had at its heart the desire to celebrate Chervin’s masterworks in objets d’art. Several of these could become wearable pieces themselves, but many were timepieces, or small containers. The work that dominated the exhibit was My Heavy Heart, a boudoir lamp that shown through a 732-carat citrine, resting on a wheelbarrow. Carvin French Jewelers labored for many of New York City’s most famous jewelry firms, and it is apropos that at the New-York Historical Society, they finally get their due.
LAPIS STAR CLOCK TOWER of lapis lazuli, mother-of-pearl, rubies, rock crystal quartz, diamonds, and eighteen karat yellow gold, 14.9 × 10.6 × 8.4 centimeters. Photograph by David Behl. RETURN TO KILIMANJARO with LAPIS EGG BOX of diamonds, emeralds, rubies, rock crystal quartz, eighteen karat yellow gold, enamel, lapis lazuli, diamonds, and tsavorites.
SUGGESTED READING
Benesh, Carolyn L.E. “Angela Cummings, A Designer for Tiffany.”Ornament: Vol. 5, No. 1, 1981: 28-33, 56.
Fasel, Marion. The Musings of a Master Jeweler. An exhibit explores objects by André Chervin and his team at Carvin French.
https://theadventurine.com/culture/books-exhibitions/the-musings-of-a-master-jeweler/
Proddow, Penny and Debra Healy. American Jewelry: Glamour and Tradition. New York, NY: Rizzoli International Publications, Inc, 1987.
Sharf, Frederic A. and Emily Banis Stoehrer. Louis Féron: Master Jeweler. 1901-1998, Paris, Costa Rica, New York. Middlebury, CT: Frederic A. Sharf, 2012.
Snowman, A. Kenneth, ed. The Master Jewelers. New York, NY: Harry N. Abrams, Inc, 1990.
Patrick R. Benesh-Liu is Coeditor of Ornament and a lifelong participant in his parents’ creative journey. From growing up in the Ornament office on La Cienega Boulevard in Los Angeles to his first administrative work in the Vista, California building during high school, Benesh-Liu has had the fortune of being immersed in craft, culture and wearable art. This past November he and Robert traveled to first Philadelphia, for the PMA Craft Show, and then to New York to visit old friends. He brings an exhibition review of André Chervin’s marvelous objets d’art at the New-York Historical Society, as well as a report on NYC Jewelry Week. After his return to San Diego, he visited “Blue Gold: The Art and Science of Indigo” at Mingei International Museum. Taken with the beautiful work on display, and the insightful information that permeated the exhibit, Benesh-Liu records his observations for your pleasure.
