designed 1930

Always at the forefront of contemporary fashion, it is no surprise that René Lalique would embrace the golden age of the motor car and chose to design car mascots. Between 1920 and 1931 he designed 30 mascots inspired by nature. Initially caps were employed to cover radiators on cars but they became increasingly elaborate as car manufacturers utilised the opportunity to display their emblems or logos, and for owners to have mascots as status symbols. Lalique’s car mascots took for form of animals, figures, insects, birds, a fish and a star, and evoke associations with movement, speed, power and mythology. The Renard mascot is one of the rarest mascots with only a handful known to exist. As a subject the fox has a long and rich visual and literary history linked to themes of stealth, cunning and conquest. He is known as an enigmatic creature with mystical, impermanent and transmutable qualities, who is both wild and untameable.