Auguste Claude Heiligenstein – Monnaie du Pape coupe – Art Deco Enamel

A rare Art Deco bowl by Auguste Heiligenstein, with enamelled Monnaie du Pape decoration and gold accents.

A colourful Art Deco bowl ‘Monnaie du Pape’ (Honesty) by the French glass artist and decorator Auguste Claude Heiligenstein (1891–1976), created during the 1920s. The bowl is made of colourless glass and richly decorated in enamel with stylized seed pods of the Honesty plant. The composition is characterized by bold cobalt-blue areas, contrasting pale tones and refined gold-coloured outlines, characteristic of Heiligenstein’s distinctive graphic Art Deco vocabulary.

Heiligenstein was among the prominent French decorators of his generation and worked for, among others, Legras, Baccarat, Marcel Goupy and Établissements Leune. His artistic recognition culminated in a gold medal at the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes in Paris in 1925.

The bowl is signed ‘Aug. Heiligenstein’ in black paint and additionally bears the signature ‘Aug. Heiligenstein’ in gold on the pontil. The piece is in excellent condition, showing only minimal age-related wear.