Lacloche Brothers is the English-language rendering of Lacloche Freres, the Paris-based jewellery house active from 1892 through the late 1930s, founded by the brothers Jules, Leopold, Fernand and Jacques Lacloche. The firm was one of the leading Belle Epoque and Art Deco maisons of Paris, with branches in Madrid, Biarritz, San Sebastian and London, and is treated in the encyclopaedia under its principal entry at Lacloche Freres.

The family and the firm

The Lacloche brothers were born in Spain to a French Sephardic family, and the firm's early commercial base was as much Spanish as French. Jules Lacloche established the Madrid branch in 1875, with the Paris house following at 15 rue de la Paix in 1892. The brothers operated the firm collectively, with Jacques (the youngest) becoming the principal creative force in the Art Deco period.

The firm produced jewellery in the full Belle Epoque vocabulary through the early twentieth century, transitioned to Art Deco from the early 1920s, and was particularly known for the precision of its diamond setting, the originality of its Art Deco coloured-stone combinations, and the technical excellence of its enamelled mystery clocks and dressing-table pieces. The firm's clientele included the Spanish royal house, European nobility, and the cosmopolitan international clientele that characterised Paris in the period.

The breakup and dispersal

The four brothers' partnership broke down in the late 1920s. Jacques Lacloche left to establish his own firm, Jacques Lacloche, in 1931, while the original Lacloche Freres continued under the remaining brothers. The Depression and the rising tensions of the 1930s weakened the original firm, which closed in the late 1930s. Jacques's separate firm continued through the post-war period at 7 Place Vendome and was eventually acquired by other interests; it produced jewellery under the Lacloche name into the 1960s.

Reading Lacloche Brothers in the literature

English-language auction catalogues, jewellery histories and trade references occasionally render Lacloche Freres as Lacloche Brothers. The two are the same firm. Auction descriptions of Art Deco-period pieces should specify whether the work is by the original Lacloche Freres firm or by the post-1931 Jacques Lacloche house, since the two carry different valuations and different stylistic identification. The original Lacloche Freres pieces of the 1920s and early 1930s are the highest-valued at auction.

For the collector

Authentic Lacloche Freres pieces are rare. The firm's archive was substantially dispersed at closure, and reattribution of unsigned works requires specialist study of construction technique, signature placement, hallmark identification and stylistic vocabulary. The leading auction-house specialists at Sotheby's, Christie's and Bonhams have curated Lacloche sales periodically, and the secondary literature has expanded as scholarly interest in non-Cartier and non-Van Cleef Art Deco houses has grown over the past three decades.

The fuller account of the firm's history, designs, signature works and authentication is given in the dedicated entry at Lacloche Freres, to which this article serves as a cross-reference for English-language readers seeking the Brothers form of the firm name.