An arts and crafts blue zircon and diamond necklace and pendant earclips, attributed to Louis Comfort Tiffany for Tiffany & Co,
73
Property of various owners
An arts and crafts blue zircon and diamond necklace and pendant earclips, attributed to Louis Comfort Tiffany for Tiffany & Co, circa 1920
designed as a graduating line of circular-cut blue zircon and old European-cut diamonds with intricate wire platinum tendrils, which extend to gallery on reverse, and gold foliate leaves with platinum berry detail, suspending a lozenge-shaped pendant of oval zircon and old European-cut diamonds; a pair of earclips (with later screwbacks) en suite; estimated total diamond weight: 5.20 carats; mounted in platinum and eighteen karat gold; length of necklace: 15 1/4in.
Sold for US$ 103,700 inc. premium

Footnotes

  • During the twenty-six years that Louis Comfort Tiffany operated the jewelry and enamel division at Tiffany & Company, production of unique handmade jewelry was substantial - approximately four to five pieces weekly. Given this enormous
    quantity, various craftspeople would have worked to complete a wide range of designs and material to meet the needs of Tiffany & Company's patrons.

    Once Louis Tiffany approved the preliminary drawing, the director of the department would oversee the creation. Louis Comfort Tiffany and his three designers drew inspirations from nature, Egyptian, Indian and Eastern themes, colored in impressionist tones, their interpretative styles differed yet a continuity existed in their vast number of creations.

    This arts and crafts necklace, lot 73, is reminiscent of jewelry produced under the direction of designer Meta Overbeck. From 1915 to 1925 an intricate vine and leaf motif was utilized as a decorative element in brooches and necklaces; this naturalistic frame, crafted out of metal provides movement, depth, and contrast to the stones which they frame and augment. The soft palette, choice of saturation, brilliance and transparency of the stones, balance, size and contour of this necklace parallel the design of Louis Comfort Tiffany's blue zircon and diamond necklace Ellen DuPont Wheelwright received from her husband in 1915 as a wedding gift. Additionally, a drawing from Meta Overbeck's sketchbook shows a similar predisposition to this combination of scrolling vinery and color palette. While the arts and crafts necklace, lot 73, does not bear a signature, it distinctly embodies the design, quality, craftsmanship, sensibility and age of similar creations produced by Tiffany & Company in the mid 1920s.

Auction Notices

  • Accompanied by a copy of an original sketch, from design book, page 33, c.1914-1933, Meta K. Overbeck, watercolor, ink, pencil on paper. It was a gift from Margreta Overbeck in memory of Meta K. Overbeck (78-1080) Courtesy of The Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art, Winter Park, FL * The Charles Hosmer Morse Foundation, Inc.

Category: Jewellery

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