Auguste Bonaz Black Celluloid Faceted French Jet Comb

Ref: AB-0905-001

We tend to think of large and impressive Spanish style combs when we think of Bonaz. However the workshop turned out hair accessories of all shapes and sizes during its long career.

Here we see a back comb of black celluloid. These combs are appropriately named because they are intended to be worn at the back of the dressing and are curved to fit the skull. This handsome example is decorated with five large faceted circular disks of French jet, a glittering form of black glass much favoured in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

The final picture shows a beautiful and stylish magazine ad for Maison Bonaz illustrating a similar comb type.

Size: 5 x 3 ¾ ins (approx 12.5 x 7.5 cms)

£100.00

Auguste Bonaz French Ivory Pierced Hair Comb

Ref: AB-0905-002

This magnificent French ivory hair comb is an example of the kinds of high quality ornaments for which Maison Auguste Bonaz was famous. This oversized Spanish style hair ornament has a design of incredible delicacy with is reminiscent of the kind of delicately pierced moucharabia work seen in Syrian and Middle Eastern furniture and window decorations.

This work is combined with a double border of elongated chevrons which radiate out like the rays of the sun. This is yet another interpretation of the iconic sunray or spokes motif of the Art Deco movement, which is held to have various interpretations and sources.

The final picture is taken for an advertisement for Maison Bonaz from the French magazine L’Illustration and shows a model wearing one of the giant combs for which the workshop was famous during the early to mid 1920s.

Size: 7 x 7 ins (18 x 18 cms)

£500.00

Auguste Bonaz Gilded Loops Design Hair Comb

Ref: AB-0905-005

This pretty little gilded hair comb with a heading consisting of a series of loops, dates from the 1940s. The Bonaz workshop continued to produce hair accessories well into the twentieth century. However from the 1930s onward their size and scope was much reduced, in tune with the popular taste.

The final picture is taken from a coloured ad in a contemporary French magazine and shows a smart theatre party in which the ladies wear handsome side combs. Shown alongside are typical hair comb designs of the Bonaz studio for the decade. The comb is signed on the back of the tines, which take an unusual split form.

Size: 3 ¾ x 2 ¼ ins (approx 9.5 x 5.5 cms)

£30.00

Auguste Bonaz Gilded and Rhinestone Spiky Design Comb

Ref: AB-0905-006

This small gilded hair comb with its distinctive spiky design and rhinestone trim dates from the 1950s. We know this because an identical comb type is illustrated in the final picture, which is an ad for Bonaz combs dated 1952.

The pony tail hair style first became popular in this decade when it was universally associated with teenagers and rock n roll. The comb is signed on the back of the heading.

Size: 2 ¼ x 2 ins (approx 5.5 x 5 ins)

£30.00

Francois Huchard Faux Tortoiseshell Hair Comb

Ref: AB-0905-009

This pretty little horn hair comb is signed by Francois Huchard, a contemporary of Auguste Bonaz working in Oyonnox. His workshop produced fine hair accessories for the first four decades of the 20th century and his works are always signed on the back.

This pretty faux tortoiseshell hair comb has three large split prongs and an openwork pierced design suggestive of foliage in a rather stiff and geometric way. It probably dates from the 1940s and can be compared with the example in the final illustration which shows hair combs from the Bonaz workshop of similar classic design.

Size: 5 x 2 ¾ ins (approx 12.5 x 7 cms)

£25.00

Francois Huchard Faux Tortoiseshell Oval Barrette

Ref: AB-0905-010

This pretty little horn hair comb is signed by Francois Huchard, a contemporary of Auguste Bonaz working in Oyonnox. His workshop produced fine hair accessories for the first four decades of the 20th century and his works are always signed on the back.

This classic oval shaped faux tortoiseshell hair barrette has an openwork design. Its fluid sense of movement is reminiscent of Art Nouveau and it may date from the period 1910 to 1920s. The barrette has a traditional metal loop and bar closing and the ornament is signed on the back.

Size: 3 ½ x 1 ½ ins (approx 9 x 4 cms)

£10.00

Signed Black Art Nouveau Acorns Comb

Ref: AB-1009-003

This handsome black celluloid hair comb is made very much in the style of the Bonaz atelier. It is signed with an indecipherable signature and PARIS and has an attractive Art Nouveau influenced design of acorns and oak leaves. A clever use has been made of the contrast between matte and shiny surfaces to give added interest and dimension to the design.

Size: 4½ x 3¾ ins (approx 11.5 x 9.5 cms)

£50.00

Unsigned French Ivory Comb with Gilded and Painted Detail

Ref: AB-1201-007

Here is a very beautiful and particularly elaborate French ivory back comb. The comb has an attractive scalloped profile and decorative detail which is transitional between the two major art movements of Art Nouveau and Art Deco. The design with its gilding and applied colour in blue and orange has a very heraldic and medieval feel to it. The design has been engraved into the surface of the comb to create panels which are then hand painted.

Size: 4½ x 3½ ins (approx 11 x 9 cms)

£80.00

Unsigned Faux Tortoiseshell Comb with Rhinestone Trim

Ref: AB-1201-008

This is a very elaborately fretted openwork ornament of celluloid faux tortoiseshell which originates in the transitional period between Art Nouveau and Art Deco. The heading design, which represents heavily stylised fruits or flowers, shows both curves and geometric elements. The design is further enhanced with small green and clear rhinestones and brass studs, as well as white pigment in the engraved lines.

These very elaborately conceived combs are found illustrated in early advertisements for the French comb makers, such as that shown in the final picture. This is taken for a magazine ad for the combs of Auguste Bonaz which were often very intricate in the early period. The unusual arrangement of hair prongs indicates that the comb was designed for the ornament to fit on top of a small chignon.

Size: 3½ x 4 ins (approx 9 x 10 cms)

£80.00

Auguste Bonaz Signed Black Mantilla with Lacy Openwork

Ref: AB-1201-009

This large and very fine black celluloid mantilla style comb is signed on the back of one of the tines by Maison Auguste Bonaz. It is a good example of the very large combs which were fashionable in the early 1920s with a high heading and openwork lacelike pattern. Such combs are represented in the beautiful advertisements which the Bonaz atelier commissioned from French magazines. The final picture shows one of these ads, with examples of very similar combs having tall wedge shaped headings.

Size: 7½ x 4¼ ins (approx 19 x 11 cms)

£110.00