Design for a Silver or Platinum Demi-Parure of Pendant (?) and Earrings with Turquoise (?), Diamonds and Pearls
Not on view
Drawing with a design for a demi-parure, part of a modern scrapbook with 38 sheets showing designs for jewelry with pearls, diamonds and other (semi-)precious stones all done in watercolor and heightened with gold, characteristic of the period between 1870 and 1930, which saw some of the most extravagant and innovative trends in jewelry design. By the second half of the nineteenth century, the naturalistic compositions of earlier decades had become more complex, and the colors in nature were mimicked by the color of gemstones used for jewelry design. In the last years of the century, designs for jewelry had become even more elaborate and relied in the natural beauty of cabochon gems, curving, and figurative designs with symbolic meaning, typical of the Arts and Crafts movement. Towards the end of the nineteenth and through the first decades of the twentieth century, diamond jewelry was re-interpreted to create the new 'garland style', and the Art Nouveau movement created sinuous and organic pieces that moved away from conventional stones and put emphasis on the subtle effects of materials such as glass, horn and enamel. During the 1920s, the economic boom following the war saw an increased glamour in jewelry design, with sharp, geometric patterns that celebrated modernity and the machine age. Art Deco jewelry is characterized by dense concentrations of gemstones and the use of platinum in place of gold, with inspiration from all over the world, especially from the Near and Far East. Like most of the drawings in the album, this design is fully rendered with gouache, showing not only the styles for the jewelry designs, but also suggesting choices of precious metals, stones, and other materials to be used in the creation of the jewels. It is also possible that these designs are real-sized, allowing the customer to visualize the jewel fully from this presentation drawings before commissioning its manufacture.
The design for a demi-parure is made up of a pendand and earrings. The design for a pendant is made up of a roundel with a blue cabochon stone flanked by a diamond and a small pearl above and below, and by two interlacing motifs on the sides. The frame of the roundel is made out of small rectangular motifs. The design for an earring presents a small roundel with a blue cabochon stone inside a plain metal frame, flanked below by a small semi-circle motif with a pearl and an inverted cone with a small pearl that hangs from it. This cone is made up with small rectangles like the frame of the pendant.The blue stones might have been turquoise, although there is also a possibility of them being colored glass or enamel. The metal to be used on the manufactured product could have been silver or platinum, which was particularly in vogue in Art Deco jewelry design.
