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Lot 197
Rock Crystal Cockatoo Couple on Emerald Base By Peter Mueller
7 December 2016, 10:00 PST
Los AngelesSold for US$8,125 inc. premium
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Rock Crystal Cockatoo Couple on Emerald Base By Peter Mueller
Brazil
The birds, carved of high-quality rock crystal quartz with good transparency, with inset multi-color tourmaline beaks, cabochon rubellite eyes and amethyst comb. The gold vermeil feet perched upon an emerald in black schist matrix base from Bahia, Brazil having crystals which measure up to 3 1/2 inches in length. Raised on a polished rock crystal quartz plinth base. Measuring 15 x 8 x 5 1/4in
The birds, carved of high-quality rock crystal quartz with good transparency, with inset multi-color tourmaline beaks, cabochon rubellite eyes and amethyst comb. The gold vermeil feet perched upon an emerald in black schist matrix base from Bahia, Brazil having crystals which measure up to 3 1/2 inches in length. Raised on a polished rock crystal quartz plinth base. Measuring 15 x 8 x 5 1/4in
Footnotes
Peter Mueller
Peter Mueller was born in 1952 near Lucerne, Switzerland. Following professional training in international banking he commenced a brilliant career in that field only to later be lured by the appeal of international travel—which lead him to live in Brazil in 1979. A chance encounter with a Brazilian carver of birds in 1984 inspired him to change his life's work. He established a workshop in semi-precious stone carvings that same year. His works are rich in unexpected beauty and surprising details. Naturally, no two carvings are identical. They are life-like reproductions of birds from the tropics and the Northern Hemisphere, hand-fabricated from natural colored
precious stones from all over the world. The bases are hand-picked by Peter from several tons of rough, including Brazilian tourmalines and quartzes from eleven different mines, as well as many other rare minerals from his adopted country. Familiar with the work of Idar-Oberstein carvers since his childhood, Peter has made annual trips there over the last twenty years to learn new carving techniques. These skills are then imparted to his crew of carvers in Brazil, now considered to be the best trained craftsmen in that country. Peter Müller's lapidary work has been the subject of a number of articles including: Rock and Gem Magazine, May 2000 and Wildlife Art Magazine, March/April 2002.