Vintage Claire Deve Byzantine Style French Gilt Chain Cabochon Necklace

Vintage Byzantine style necklace by French designer Claire Deve on a gilt chased metal chain, with blue and red glass elements — one bead of each color, and gilt medallions with a central glass elements creating a cabochon effect, alternating in color with the beads — leading down to a plastic pendant with a red resin cabochon. Unsigned, circa the late 1980s or early 1990s. Deve designed both her own line of jewelry as well as jewelry for couture houses (Chanel and Jean Paul Gaultier most famously). Her pieces were often eclectic, creative, and made use of mixed media in the way this necklace does, paying homage to more classic French design but in a way that was contemporary for the time. For example, the chain on this piece is very similar to one used by earlier French paruriers, but here it’s slightly oversized. The necklace is about 31 inches or so end to end, unclasped, the pendant hangs down another 2.5 inches or so, and it has a spring ring closure. If you look closely, the red glass element that forms the cabochons within one of the gilt medallions has some cracks in it, and the medallion has some loss of gilding near the glass - more loss on the back side that on the front - easiest to see in the last photo.