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Couture Cis Zoltowska FingerlikeProngSet Red CrackleGlass Balls Silver Earrings

About the Item

In the mid-century, Austro-Hungarian Comtesse Cissy Zoltowska designed haute-couture costume jewelry with elements of hand-craftsmanship for some of the leading European houses including Pierre Balmain, Jacques Fath and Balenciaga, which is when she became known for hand-set glass in elegant finger-like wire prongs that further enlivened her colorful designs. Notably, all of her jewelry was prong set and hand mounted--often with irregularly bent wire or pieces of metal. Here in each silver-tone mixed-metal clip earring, she used her trademark stone crackle-glass for triple balls with red tones ranging from cherry to flame, which are each hand-set with nine elongated curving prongs. Like most other European parures, Zoltowska did not sign pieces made for fashion designers, which also included Helena Rubenstein in The States. She later produced a line for Lord & Taylor and other retailers that is identified by the mark "CIS". This is why there is the distinction between early work that is associated with her last name, which she acquired from the Polish count who was her husband.
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