Pendant

Frank Gardner Hale was one of the luminaries of the American Arts and Crafts movement. In 1906, after eight years as a designer of book and music covers, he moved to Chipping Camden in the Cotswolds to study silversmithing and enameling at C. R. Ashbee’s Guild of Handicrafts. He subsequently worked in London with the accomplished jeweler and enameller Fred Partridge. Back in the States, Hale established a shop in Boston in 1907 and became a member of Boston’s Society of Arts and Crafts, which granted him a prestigious bronze medal for excellence in 1915. This was followed by a number of other professional honors. One of Hale’s greatest masterpieces, an openwork gem-set gold and silver pendant on gem-set chains, has been part of the American Wing’s collection since 2014. This more modest opal and peridot pendant, which speaks to his acknowledged talents as a colorist, augments our ability to study Hale’s work, as well as his enormous influence on other Boston Arts and Crafts jewelers.