Brilliant jeweller and Symbolist sculptor, a central figure of Belgian Art Nouveau, heir to a dynasty of goldsmiths and creator of unique works at the frontier of art and luxury.

Philippe Wolfers was born in Brussels in 1858, into a family of goldsmiths whose tradition dates back to 1820. His training was comprehensive: sculpture and drawing at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Brussels, notably under Isidore De Rudder. He then joined the family firm Wolfers Frères, of which he became artistic director in 1892.

Until 1905, he excelled in jewellery, silverwork, glass, ivory and precious stones. His jewels, deeply influenced by Art Nouveau, fauna, flora and Japonism, were compared to those of René Lalique by contemporary critics. His creations were rare and precious: 109 unique pieces, often signed PW and marked ex. unique, were made between 1898 and 1905. Some reach record prices at auction today, such as an orchid comb sold at Christie’s for over $250,000 in 2016.

From 1905 onwards, Philippe Wolfers devoted himself entirely to sculpture, gradually abandoning jewellery. He explored noble materials: marble, bronze, porphyry, ivory. His works, marked by a Symbolist aesthetic, gradually evolved towards the refined lines of Art Deco. He exhibited between 1894 and 1925 in the major cities of Europe: Paris, Turin, Venice, Munich, Liège, Brussels and Antwerp.

Wolfers left behind a corpus of 106 sculptures, some in Carrara marble of great purity, often produced in only five or six copies. His son Marcel Wolfers, also a sculptor, ensured the preservation of the work and contributed to the publication of the catalogues raisonnés. His creations are today preserved at the Royal Museum of Art and History in Brussels, the MSK in Ghent, the Hortamuseum and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Philippe Wolfers died in Brussels in 1929.