MiriamHaskell 1926-1929 FrankHess Glass Crystal Shell Pearl Coral Silver Sautoir

Long before Barbie, Elsa Schiaparelli famously embraced "shocking pink" for her Surrealist-aesthetic couture clothing and handcrafted costume jewelry, which she commissioned from Parisian paruriers beginning in the late 1920s--when some of the most expensive jewels were fuchsia Burmese rubies. In this antique glass-beaded sautoir tassel-necklace, 37 "shocking pink" balls are each delicately caged like hot-air balloons by seven textural strands of faux-pearl-and-gold seed beads. These spherical stations are spaced by lustrous white medium-size faux pearls, ending in a four-strand seed-bead tassel that cages four of the fuchsia faux pearls. The beads are strung on bright magenta silk cord without a clasp. Sautoirs were an essential element of flapper style since Schiaparelli's couture-mentor Paul Poiret changed the silhouette of clothing in the 1920s, while the long necklaces remained popular until wartime 1939. To compete with her rival couturier Gabriel "Coco" Chanel, Schiaparelli (1890-1973) relied on the same French glassmakers, Maison Gripoix and Louis Rousselet--the masters of faux pearls at the time who added organic-ingredient coatings to their handmade glass beads. Either glass workshop that was established by the 1920s could have been commissioned to make the progressive hot-pink pearls for this unsigned necklace that dates to the Art Deco period. The design of this highly-textural tri-color sautoir featuring fuchsia spheres particularly suits the style of one of Schiaparelli's most frequent paruriers through the 1930s, Jean Clement. Some of his relevant unsigned work for Schiaparelli is in museum collections like The Met, including highly-textural tri-color sphere-decorated buttons/brooches and a fuchsia-toned metal-rosebud bead necklace. After Schiaparelli had become associated with fuchsia, she made particularly prolific use of this bright magenta in the late 1930s. In her demi-couture collections such as "Circus" and "Comedia del' Arte" (see our 3 photos), fuchsia jackets are adorned with similar colorful spherical glass beads among embroidered appliques and animal/clown brooches, as well as whimsical painted-ceramic buttons...

Beginning in the 1920s, Coco Chanel collaborated with Parisian Louis Rousselet for a wide variety of handcrafted beaded jewelry to compliment her couture-clothing designs. This Art-D...

This antique rare hand-pressed-glass necklace features semi-translucent grape-green large beads that are capped with gilt-brass filigree. Based on the combination of bead seams, spring-ring clasp, and metal findings on the unmarked faux Chinese-jade necklace, it dates to the late Victorian period most likely from Western Europe. Around WWI, hand presses, which stamped molten glass into a mold to create a bead with a hole and a seam, were often used to produce costume jewelry as a cottage industry in Germany and the Czech region. This was while there was a lack of factory machine presses and finishing tumblers that used sand to polish out the seam lines. Another reason that the cloudy green beads can be identified as atypically hand-pressed is that they are more opaque and therefore harder and less prone to breaking during formation than fully-translucent glass, which was better suited for automated-machine pressing. Also the green beads are an unusual swirled color including white, which suggests that their production was more limited than machine-pressing would enable. Without the bead-seams, this necklace could be mistaken for one by Coco Chanel. Her 1920s couture...

Featuring the earliest white-swirled glass and enameled faux-pearl round beads handcrafted by Parisian lampwork-master Louis Rousselet for American entrepreneur Miriam Haskell and he...

Featuring yellow-gold sinuous-pattern rondelles and carnelian rock-crystal round 8mm beads, this ancient-revival heavy necklace is knotted in stations a...

With a silver clasp that could be as old as the Victorian period and in an Art-Nouveau style with pale intricate flora motifs, this antique long glass necklace features lampwork-like...

One-of-a-Kind Discover the extraordinary beauty of this one-of-a-kind necklace, a true testament to nature's splendor. Unusually large faceted Peridot nuggets and captivating faceted...

Indulge in the ethereal beauty of this enchanting necklace, where romance meets elegance in a harmonious blend of delicate hues. Crafted with meticulous care, it features exquisite C...

A beautiful Jade pendant studded with nine lucky gems strung in a row of graduating Tanzanite beads. The Nine Lucky Gems are called the "Nav Ratan" in Hindi....

This 1920s Art Deco masterpiece by Cartier was inspired by the exotic gemstone combinations and design motifs of the Far East. Long sautoirs were all the rage and complimented the so...

Unique Elegance: Indulge in the allure of singular beauty with our one-of-a-kind creation – a luxurious three-strand Keshi pearl necklace. Each strand has been lovingly hand-knotted...

This is a lovely multi-strand vintage Pink Peach Coral Necklace with a Coral Pendant featuring large cabochon Coral separating the multi coral str...