Henri Pierre Lavabre (11 July 1875 -- 3 April 1945) was a Paris goldsmith whose workshop in rue Tiquetonne became perhaps Cartier's largest supplier, manufacturing all types of objects, from tiaras to clocks. Born at 9 rue Mandar in the 2nd arrondissement, the son of a glove maker, he was a close friend of Louis Lecomte (b. 1877), and another key supplier to Cartier during the same period was Henri Picq.
The Exclusivity Contract
In 1906, Lavabre signed a fifteen-year exclusivity contract with Cartier; the firm advanced him 50,000 francs and in return his workshop produced exclusively for the house until 1921. The arrangement was unusual: most workshops in the atelier network supplied multiple jewellery houses, but the scale of Cartier's demand bound the two together closely. His workshop specialised in gold and enamel work, and from 1906 Cartier began producing its own Russian-style objects through the atelier.
Lavabre was called to arms in August 1914 and was captured on 25 August, spending four years as a prisoner of war in Germany until his release in August 1918. The workshop's activity during his internment is not documented.
After the exclusivity arrangement ended in 1921, Lavabre continued working for the firm into the 1930s. His maker's mark was cancelled ("biffé") in 1975, thirty years after his death, suggesting that the workshop may have continued under successors.
Output
Lavabre's output included gold and enamel cigarette cases, vanity cases, evening bags, jewellery, lighters, nécessaires, and card cases. These objects were among the most frequently commissioned personal accessories of the period.
Documented Pieces
A garland-style tiara made in September 1913 survives in the Victoria and Albert Museum (accession M.12:1 to 3-2015). It was commissioned by Cartier Paris for the marriage of Alexandra Comnène, an artist of Greek descent, to the Belgian diplomat Robert Everts. The bride supplied the majority of the stones herself; Cartier charged 4,000 francs for the mounting and the provision of additional diamonds. The piece is set in platinum and gold with 330 brilliant-cut diamonds (66.49 carats), 76 rose-cut diamonds, and three cabochon-cut synthetic rubies in millegrain settings. The V&A notes it as a rare documented example of Cartier using synthetic rubies (produced by the Verneuil process) before the First World War. The tiara bears Lavabre's maker's mark alongside the Cartier inscription and was worn at the civil ceremony on 15 November 1913 at the Mairie d'Ixelles, Brussels.
Art Deco diamond bracelets, vanity cases, and brooches bearing Lavabre's maker's mark continue to appear at auction. A lacquer and onyx vanity case with a Chinese "shou" longevity character sold at Christie's Geneva, and an Art Deco platinum diamond bracelet (c. 1930) has been offered through specialist dealers.
Sources
- Francesca Cartier Brickell, The Cartiers (Ballantine Books, 2019), endnotes to ch. 2 (p. 560 n.66) and ch. 3 (p. 563 n.106)
- Hans Nadelhoffer, Cartier: Jewelers Extraordinary (Thames and Hudson, 1984; revised 2007)
- Judy Rudoe, Cartier 1900–1939 (British Museum Press, 1997)
- Victoria and Albert Museum, Tiara, Henri Lavabre for Cartier, 1913 (accession M.12:1 to 3-2015)
- Richard Jean-Jacques, "Henri Pierre Lavabre: Un grand Joaillier, indépendant, au service de Cartier" (2021), citing French civil registers and military records
