How do I identify Elsa Schiaparelli jewelry?

When fuchsia Burmese rubies were among the most expensive gems in the 1930s, Elsa Schiaparelli began to embrace the "shocking pink" color while designing French-couture clothing and ...

This breathtaking 1950's Schiaparelli brooch, in the most breathtaking shades of iridescent orange and pink rhinestones, set against iridescent orange lava rocks, is a rare piece to ...

Elsa Schiaparelli Baroque Revival Cocktail Ring. Composed of leafy vine motif textured gilt plate base metal, faux Tibetan turquoise oval cabochon, with aurora iridized glass, in pin...

Elsa Schiaparelli surrealist lady bug cuff bracelet. Of gilt plate metal the bombayed hinged cuffs inset with red, orange molded pate de verre glass lady bugs...

Between the first ad-campaign that legendary fashion designer Elsa Schiaparelli (1890-1973) commissioned from internationally-admired Paris-based Hungarian-born multimedia artist Marcel Vertes (1895-1961) for her blockbuster perfume "Shocking" in 1937, and in 1940 when they left France after launching her perfume "Sleeping" shortly before the Nazi occupation during WWII, the illustrator-cum-ceramist distinctly handmade-- while traditional materials for couture costume-jewelry were scarce in Paris--this whimsical red-glazed ceramic brooch depicting a duck holding a "wet" umbrella dripped with dashes of turquoise or black glaze. Significantly, the trombone clasp of the brooch pin, the long-pronged gilt frame, and the text stamped on its back plate "Made In France" match a similarly sized glazed-ceramic brooch of a decoratively-chained bear that was published in the book Bijoux (page 146). The author Deanna Farenti Cera dated that likewise unbranded unsigned brooch to 1938 when it was commissioned for one of Schiaparelli's themed fashion shows "Circus". The invitation to that show, which was illustrated with circus characters and performing animals by Vertes' Parisian peer Christian Berard, included a domesticated white duck--notably not holding nor wearing a fashion accessory. Unusually, Schiaparelli had commissioned couture umbrellas from other artisans in the 1930s--a couple of which were acquired by TheMet museum. Another relevant Met acquisition of the designer's couture evening gown, which it dates to Summer 1940, features three large glazed-ceramic fasteners in a contrasting color matching our brooch. The like findings, materials, construction, text, object and palette aside, accessory-adorned ducks were also among the figurative animals commissioned by Schiaparelli for that last collection before the Germans dominated Paris by June 1940, which is evidenced by the photo of the dated gilt hatpin depicting a bejeweled bird head with a bill that appears in the book by Patrick Mauries about another Schiaparelli-associated French parurier Lina Baretti (pages 124-125). See our other listing for one of Baretti's uniquely feathered designs, which likewise has a pronged gilt frame with trombone clasp like ours, but whose partridge subject best suits an earlier Schiaparelli collection for Fall 1938 titled "Pagan". For us, distinguishing our brooch from other one-of-a-kind ceramic pieces created for Schiaparelli couture...

Elsa Schiaparelli Baroque revival wide bracelet composed of leafy vine motif textured gilt plate base metal with faux Tibetan turquoise oval cabochons and iridized Aurora pink/blue/...