Chanels Gabrielle Handbag

Stamped "Made In France" on antique brass back-plates like the initial unbranded couture costume jewelry since 1924 commissioned by French Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel for her foreign-cli...

During the Art-Deco period when Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel was at her peak as a Parisian couture designer in the early 1930s and working closely with her favorite jewelry parurier Fulco di Verdura, for one of her clients, she commissioned this unique handcrafted gem-fringed medallion brooch with a yellow-gold circle rope of flexible thick chain that dangles from an unseen ornate open-work curvilinear yellow-gold base. Marked only "FRANCE" on the bar pin with a trombone clasp, like some early 1930s Chanel couture jewelry collected by TheMet museum, its artistry reflects the colorful organic-form starburst sketches of Verdura, which you can see from our photo of one of them. The Sicilian duke began creating fabric patterns for Chanel in 1927, which shortly expanded to executing fine jewelry beginning with custom pieces for the house founder. These included the iconic Byzantine-influenced gem-adorned cuffs referencing the Maltese-military cross, which the French designer can often be seen wearing in circa-1930s photos. Chanel reproduced some of Verdura's originals for her clients, but those variations featured faux gems. This softly-shaped abstract brooch design suits goldsmith Verdura's early anti-Art-Deco aesthetic that was considered a radical departure from 1920s silver-tone geometric jewelry, which otherwise featured linear designs or figurative representation. The deconstructed bouquet of gems mixes amethyst and rose-quartz beads with natural Keshi pearls and intricate tiny gold leaves, which are discreetly wired to a Baroque-motif frame that dangles a round gem surrounded by a chain halo. Significantly, Verdura was credited with re-introducing since Victorian times the rope motif to fine jewelry. Since 1930, Verdura's unique style was influenced by travels with Chanel to explore Byzantine art, Baroque architecture, and the exotic flora-and-fauna among his native Italian aristocratic estate. The legendary fashion editor Diane Vreeland and American entertainment stars were among the first Chanel clients to acquire couture real-gem-adorned jewelry made by Verdura, while one of the two brooches treasured by Vreeland was titled "Theodora". See our photo of the Byzantine mosaic of Empress Theodora, whose image--with an abundance of teardrop pearls and colorful gems above her chest, and with a gold halo surrounding her head--could have inspired the design of our brooch. As one of the most important modern-design collaborations, Chanel's close relationship with Verdura lasted largely undocumented years in Paris, until he launched his first outside jewelry venture with a Hollywood designer-boutique after emigrating to the United States in 1934. Within five years, as a financially-backed in-demand goldsmith in the States, he founded the namesake fine-jewelry company Verdura in New...

2016 Chanel Gabrielle large black leather shoulder bag measurements: 30 * 25 * 10 cm

French costume-jewelry glass-master Louis Rousselet was among a handful of paruriers favored by the leading Parisian couture houses, primarily Chanel in the late 1920s. Beyond the st...

Marked "Made In France" on their antique brass back-plates like the initial unbranded couture costume jewelry commissioned by Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel since 1924, these painterly earl...

Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel's earliest fashion motifs of camellias, hearts, and topaz are combined in this Art Deco period tightly silk-strung metallic-glass couture set of a mixed-bead ...

A stylish navy Chanel Small Trendy CC Flap Bag. The exterior of this Trendy is crafted with navy lambskin leather in the signature diamond style stitching and ruthenium silver tone h...