403 - Exceptional Art Nouveau gold necklace featuring ancient Egyptian scarabs and carnelian amulets (Koloman Moser). Vienna, circa 1900/1910. L 28 cm. Gold. Elaborately crafted, multi-row festoon necklace in a symmetrically tiered composition. Eleven original ancient Egyptian scarabs of varying sizes and colors, made of steatite and faience (Late Period) in gold settings, with three-dimensionally rendered beetle bodies and deeply incised seal impressions on the undersides. The scarabs are connected by delicate gold chains arranged in garlands. Numerous freely swinging, likewise ancient Egyptian heart and Udjat eye amulets made of carnelian, as well as modern teardrop- and heart-shaped carnelian pendants. The lower section is completed by a greenish, ancient Fayence Udjat eye. The ancient scarab beetles and carnelian amulets show some wear and minor chips. Provenance: From the estate of Anna (Anny) Liebenwein (1876–1915), wife of the Austrian painter Maximilian Liebenwein (1869–1926). In the family ever since. According to family tradition, designed by Koloman Moser for Anna Liebenwein. Accompanied by art-historical documentation on provenance and the history of the design! Koloman Moser (1868–1918), co-founder of the Vienna Secession and the Wiener Werkstätte, is considered one of the most important designers of Viennese Art Nouveau. He shared a close personal and artistic relationship with the painter Maximilian Liebenwein; the two families were also on friendly terms. In 1913, Ferdinand Matthias Zerlacher (1877–1923) painted a portrait of Anna Liebenwein wearing an elaborate necklace featuring scarabs and semi-precious stones, which is explicitly identified in art-historical literature as a design by Koloman Moser. The traditionally attributed authorship to Moser, the personal relationships between the artists, and the 1913 image credit lend the necklace special art-historical significance. Lit.: Lothar Schultes (ed.), Maximilian Liebenwein. A Painter Between Impressionism and Art Nouveau, Catalogs of the Upper Austrian State Museums, New Series 48, Weitra 2006, fig. 15 (Portrait of Anna Liebenwein by Ferdinand Zerlacher, 1913). The basic bibliographic data have been confirmed by the publisher.