Makers and ateliers that shaped vintage jewellery
Door de redactie · Vakinhoudelijk getoetst · Bijgewerkt juli 2026
A brand is a trade name; a maker is a person or an atelier. The two overlap — the great jewellery houses are also makers, and many goldsmiths are simultaneously brands — but the angle differs. Where the brands hub looks at what a name means for market value, here the biography takes centre stage: where did this maker work, what did he or she believe in, and how can the work be recognised in Dutch collections and auction catalogues.
Our editorial line is strict. We use the names as text only, show no images of individual works and do not quote from catalogues. Where a piece hangs in a public collection we mention that collection as context; otherwise we describe only at type level. Signature and master's marks are described at pattern level. For verification of an individual piece, an independent specialist with auction experience is the appropriate route.
Nederlandse makers en ateliers
Ateliers en huizen die het Nederlandse sieraden- en zilverbeeld hebben gevormd — van fabrikantenzilver in Voorschoten tot Amsterdamse edelsmedenwerk uit de Nieuwe Kunst.
For the Dutch collecting market, Van Kempen & Begeer is not a single workshop but a family history of manufacturer's silver — with the smithies of Van Kempen in Voorschoten and Begeer in Utrecht and l…
To the maker's guide →Bonebakker is an Amsterdam jewellery house with an exceptionally long history and a central role in Dutch royal jewellery. This editorial guide generally describes what this house created, how to reco…
To the maker's guide →Frans Zwollo Sr. stands on the Dutch side of the broader European Arts and Crafts movement: hand-raised goldsmith work as a conscious counter-movement against factory-made silver. This guide describes…
To the maker's guide →Steltman is a Hague jeweller with a long history, a pronounced royal connection and, for the jewellery connoisseur, a name primarily associated with one famous ring design: the so-called Steltman-ring…
To the maker's guide →The Utrecht Edelsmederij Brom (1856–1961) is one of the most important Dutch workshops for ecclesiastical and monumental goldsmithing from the second half of the nineteenth and first half of the twent…
To the maker's guide →Internationale meesters
Europese makers die stijltijdperken hebben gedefinieerd en waarvan het werk in Nederlandse verzamelingen en veilingcatalogi regelmatig terugkeert.
René Lalique (1860–1945) is one of the most definitive figures of French art nouveau. The jewellery period of his oeuvre — roughly 1890 to 1912 — is a standalone highlight in jewellery history; the la…
To the maker's guide →The house of Fabergé is one of the most complex categories for the vintage market — due to its reputation, the scope of its oeuvre, and the simultaneously enormous market of later copies, homages, and…
To the maker's guide →The Cymric line from the London department store Liberty is one of the clearest examples of 'commercial' high-quality art nouveau. Under the artistic direction of Archibald Knox (1864–1933), a serial …
To the maker's guide →Georges Fouquet (1862–1957) is one of the key figures of Parisian art nouveau jewellery. He continued his father Alphonse's firm, shifted it to the new idiom in the 1890s, and from 1899 collaborated w…
To the maker's guide →Murrle Bennett & Co. (1896–1916) is one of the most interesting chapters in European Art Nouveau jewellery art. The firm was a collaboration between the Pforzheim-born Ernst Mürrle and the British Ben…
To the maker's guide →The Wiener Werkstätte (1903–1932) is the Viennese workshop for applied arts that gave the Art Nouveau idiom a radically geometric turn, thereby becoming one of the pioneers of art deco. This editorial…
To the maker's guide →This editorial guide describes the broader range of Danish silverwork that entered the Dutch vintage market, with a focus on the skønvirke movement and on workshops alongside the most famous Danish na…
To the maker's guide →Curious what you have in your hands?
Wondering whether a jewel comes from one of these ateliers — or simply what you're actually holding? Send photos; a specialist will look at it and advise within two working days on a sensible next step.
Independent advice about what you have and your options — not a purchase offer, not a formal appraisal.