
Kate Flitcroft
Co-Head of Department UK
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£10,000 - £15,000
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Co-Head of Department UK

Co-Head of Department UK
Specialist Consultant
Jean Schlumberger (1907-1987), the French artist-jeweller par excellence was born in Alsace to a family of prosperous textile industrialists. His Meissen flowers mounted as clips caught the attention of Elsa Schiaparelli who commissioned him to design costume jewellery during the 1930s. After establishing workshops in New York and Paris, Tiffany appointed Schlumberger Vice President of the firm in 1956. While at Tiffany, Schlumberger was given total artistic freedom with his own department on the mezzanine of their Fifth Avenue store, and he was the first designer at Tiffany permitted to stamp his creations with his name. Through exceptional draughtsmanship and remarkable imagination, Schlumberger translated the inspiration he drew from the flora and fauna of the natural world into the vibrant and whimsical jewels that are his trademark. His choice of materials and textures creates a beautiful balance, even in his most unconventional designs.
Within European folk tradition, the salamander is symbolic of immortality. Said to be born from flames and invulnerable to fire, salamanders have been hailed by occultists as the 'elemental spirit of fire'.