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Suzanne is clearly delighted with herself—and why shouldn’t she be? She’s young and gorgeous and carefree, and the world is hers for the taking. She trails drapery from her outstretched arms as if it were a pair of butterfly wings, and though she is otherwise nude, she embodies the Art Deco fashion of her time. She almost looks as if she could float away, but picking her up will dispel that impression instantly. The nine-inch figure is made of glass, mold-pressed circa 1925 in the French factories of jeweler-turned-glass-master René Lalique. His luxurious glass confections legitimized his empire as a rival to Fabergé and Tiffany—both Louis Comfort and the jewelry house.

Suzanne shares her name with Lalique’s own daughter, who was born in 1892 and grew up to assist the family business, and there is some debate about whether the statuette has any connection to her. Some say yes, but Nicholas Dawes, who conducted the earliest auction of Lalique in America at Phillips New York in 1980, authored the 1986 book Lalique Glass, and now works for Heritage Auctions in Dallas, disagrees. He suspects the name refers to the tale of Susanna and the Elders, which he says is more in keeping with Lalique’s interest in mythological and historic beauties. Furthermore, he points out that modeling your grown, married daughter sans garments for a mass-produced item is “very déclassé. You just don’t do that.” But everyone agrees that Suzanne is among the finest objets d’art that René Lalique ever made. Speaking of it and a similar Lalique statuette of a nude female, Thais, which Dawes showcased on the cover of his book, he says, “You look at them and realize how good René Lalique was. Nobody could sculpt like that. He was so far ahead.”