Designed by Mike Stillwell
It is a bracelet of rock crystal carved into individual steps. It is finished with a diamond encrusted button. It was made in 1935 by Cartier Paris. And, in the fearlessness of its design, its mastery of materials, and sheer imagination, maybe one of the most perfect jewels I have ever seen. I have never wanted anything more.
On December 11, it will go up for sale at Christie's New York, and the estimate is $200,000-$300,000. I will be there to watch it go to a (very) good home. It is but one of an extraordinary collection of nearly 70 Art Deco pieces that will be a part of Christie's Magnificent Jewels Sale (public previews open on December 6 at Rockefeller Center headquarters).
There is a Van Cleef & Arpels diamond sautoir (estimate $500,000-$700,000); an Art Deco Cartier multi-gem mystery clock ($300,000-$500,000); and a cuff of spiked rock crystal and hematite by Suzanne Belperron for Boivin, circa 1930, that will leave you breathless (you can hear my “oh my god” at the end of an Instagram video I made while trying it on during an early preview).
Christie's sale of these Art Deco pieces will be one of the most watched of the jewelry auction season. What is it about this period between the wars that inspired so much bold creativity, and created pieces that continue to break records today?
They first called it Style Moderne; the term Art Deco was born after the World’s Fair in Paris, known as Exposition internationale des Arts décoratifs et industriels modernes. The name stuck, as did the taste for the streamlined architectural jewelry presented there. “Art Deco jewels remain one of the strongest and most collectible sectors of the jewelry market,” said Frank Everett of Sotheby's, after a 2019 record breaking sale of a Cartier Art Deco sapphire and diamond bracelet. “Season after season we see exceptional pieces from the 1920s and 1930s command top prices.”
Why so much love for Art Deco? “This jewelry represents the ultimate attention to detail in terms of design, materials and craftsmanship, and will always harken back to that glamorous period ‘between the wars’ when lifestyles called for dressing up and wearing lots of jewelry every day,” says Everett.
There is glamour for sure, and exquisite artistry, but the jewelry created during this time— a period of design some mark as beginning as early as 1915 but one that reached its height after WWI and continued into the 1930s—also tells the tale of a society breaking with the past and racing towards the future.
The geometric lines of Art Deco were a rejection of the grandly romantic bows and garlands of the Belle Epoque style and the wild naturalism of Art Nouveau. This was the jewelry of a world fascinated by the rise of machines and by their newfound ability to travel to exotic locations. The war brought women a sense of independence as they entered the workforce—and just as the fashion of the roaring ’20s expressed that daring newfound freedom, so did the jewels of the time.
“While designers came from diverse backgrounds, they all held the same ideal: to make a clean break from the past, draw inspiration from everyday life, and rid the decorative arts of useless ornamentation,” Laurence Mouillefarine, a historian of the Art Deco period, once explained.
There is a fearlessness to Art Deco jewels, in the bold sculptural shapes and in the materials. The use of onyx and jade and rock crystal and lapis and coral and colored carved gemstones reflect a culture and a creativity unbound.
The consistent allure of the pieces from this period can be explained in their aesthetic beauty, surely, but there is an intrigue in their history of boldness and optimism for the future that is equally powerful. Even without knowing it, one can sense an artifact of a diamond revolution in their hands—a revolution brought to you by rock crystal, diamonds, and Cartier.
"Jewelry" - Google News
December 10, 2019 at 02:12AM
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The History of Art Deco Design in Jewelry and Why the Style Sells So Well at Auction - TownandCountrymag.com
"Jewelry" - Google News
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