Danish Jewellery

With an exquisite lustre, a small gem of an Art Nouveau brooch glitters among the auction’s jewels and is estimated at DKK 4,000–6,000. Francesco Mogens Hendrik Ballin was both a painter and an artisan. Pivotal to his personal and artistic development were the visits he made to Mette Gauguin (the wife of Paul Gauguin) in Frederiksberg and the ensuing trips to France, where he became a student of Gauguin’s friend, the artist Paul Sérusier. In 1899, Ballin established a smithy – at A/S Tuborgs Fabrikker – for decorative art made of tin, where the metal was shaped into attractive bowls, mugs and jugs. Later, he also worked in silver and gold, mostly for jewellery, incorporating amber, corals and semi-precious stones. His artistic style was influenced by Thorvald Bindesbøll and German Art Nouveau. In 1907, he gave up his smithy and shop in Skoubogade in Copenhagen. Ballin’s artistic activity would go on to become of decisive importance to Georg Jensen.

In 1904, Georg Jensen founded a silversmithy at Bredgade 36. In the early years, Georg Jensen designed almost everything himself, based on the idea that jewellery should be affordable to more people. That is why he never used gold, but rather the hard “A380 silver”. To distance himself from the use of cheap materials and mass production of the time, Jensen became known for finishing the surface of the silver. His jewellery was often adorned with exotic and unusual semi-precious stones such as amber, agate, coral, lapis lazuli and carnelian. The stones were not faceted, but cabochon-cut and matte. From 1906, he joined forces with the painter Johan Rohde, known for his drawings of sculptural plant motifs. The style was Art Nouveau, known in Denmark as “skønvirke”, the motifs of which, including flowers, leaves and berries, were inspired by nature. The passionate businessman that he was, Georg Jensen was also happy to accept unusual commissions from ordinary private customers. In addition to the antique jewellery at our Online Auction, you can also bid on jewellery designed for Georg Jensen by outstanding Danish jewellery designers such as Nanna and Jørgen Ditzel, Vivianna Torun Bülow-Hübe and the iconic Henning Koppel.

It is in the section for the more modern jewellery that we find Bent Knudsen’s work. He trained as a cutlery maker at C.M. Cohr, in Fredericia. In 1956, after having worked at Hans Hansen for a few years, Bent Knudsen opened his own silversmithy in Kolding together with his wife Anni. A large assortment of mainly silver jewellery in geometric shapes, many pieces with stones, was produced here, as was a considerable amount of hollowware and a great many paper cuts, which were punched out in the workshop and assembled into mobiles. Clear, simple design is characteristic of Anni and Bent Knudsen’s jewellery, often with geometrically shaped, interconnecting links. In addition to pieces commissioned for the Danish and Swedish royal houses, Bent Knudsen exported extensively to large parts of the world. Featured in the auction are two elegant bracelets, both in Knudsen’s distinctive angular, raw style.

In contrast, Ole Lynggaard’s more refined designs are either lavishly adorned with white diamonds or clasping large solitaire gemstones in intense colours. His fascination with the organic movements and graphic elegance of animals is clearly evident in several of his iconic pieces of animal jewellery, while floral details and foliage are a major source of inspiration for several of his collections. He is best known for his “Elephant” and “Snakes” collections. Included in the Online Auction are a number of jewellery clasps inspired by flowers, pendants and charms. Ole Lynggaard – and later also his daughter, Charlotte Lynggaard – has become synonymous with unique Danish craftsmanship and design, and the company is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year.