Sterling Silver Abstract Sculptures

Wonderful Salvador Dali "Easter Christ" solid .925 sterling silver abstract tray/plate made by Lincoln Mint and dates from 1972. The plate features an abstract crucifix and Easter eg...

WEARABLE ART AN IMPORTANT DESIGN FOR A NECKLACE The necklace is unique and extraordinary. Because of its specific design elements it lays beautifully and comfortably on any body structure. This piece comes from a private collection. Provenance will accompany the piece. It has been authenticated by Val Bertoia and is listed in the Harry Bertoia Foundation Catalogue Raisonne # D.JE.49 having been authenticated as a Harry Bertoia piece. REPLY FROM CHRISTIE'S: "Dear Charles, thank you for contacting Christie's. I am absolutely stunned to see the necklace by Harry Bertoia you have submitted for feedback from us, and I would love to speak with you about the work at your earliest convenience. I am a great fan and a known expert in the work of Harry Bertoia, and I have handled over 600 of his sculptures, jewelry and art over the last 22 years. I have never seen a better piece of his jewelry, and it stands as one of the greatest objects in any category that he made. Michael Jefferson Senior Vice President International Senior Specialist Design" The following is from Beverly H. Twitchell, PhD, author of Bertoia: The Metalworker, London: Phaidon, 2019. She provides a very informative critique of Bertoia and his jewelry. Wearable Art an Important Design for a Necklace “Before Harry Bertoia enrolled at the Cranbrook Academy of Art in 1937 he had already mastered traditional jewelers’ techniques, but his engagement with Modernism led him to invent and use more direct methods. Instead of precious metals and gems, Bertoia made jewelry that appealed through its design, craftsmanship and the nature of its materials. That approach would make Bertoia a direct predecessor of the American Studio Crafts movement. So complex and cumulative are human perception and memory that we often do not know from where our own ideas come and without firm evidence, it is impossible to think we can establish the origins of an artist’s ideas. While his jewelry is entirely modern, chokers with multiple small pendants had come from ancient Mediterranean cultures: Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece and Italy, even from Europe and America at the turn of the last century. Did Bertoia see works in books, journals or at the Detroit Institute of Arts that resonated with him or did he invent this on his own, as he would so many other forms? Bertoia found inspiration in nature from an early age on a small farm in Italy and later in Cranbrook’s woods, on the beaches of southern California and in the fields near his home in eastern Pennsylvania where he lived after 1950. The fluidity and motion of the his jewelry characterize much of his art. In that spirit, too, he made jewelry that suited human anatomy and was animated by its wearer’s movement. Bertoia had the instincts of an engineer, as the intricacy of the present lot’s clasp and overall construction of the jewelry demonstrates. Large jewelry by Bertoia is very rare. A delight to the eye, and like all of Bertoia’s work it is timeless. Bertoia had the instincts of an engineer, as the intricacy of the present lot's clasp and the overall construction of this piece demonstrate. Closed, the necklace sits on a table in a surprisingly conical shape, but it is so flexible that it conforms to its wearer from her neck nearly to her shoulders. Each handmade section is riveted to its neighbors, allowing it to adjust to the body while the pendants curve in many directions: one fits the left clavicle so precisely that Bertoia likely tried it on Brigitta Valentiner, who became his wife in 1943. Other pendants face toward or away from each other, bending up or down. Each element has been hammered into multiple curves and worked in Bertoia’s hands. Large jewelry by Bertoia is very rare. A delight to the eye, this necklace no doubt caused a sensation in its day as it might at the 2022 Met Ball in ours, for like all of Harry Bertoia’s work, it is timeless.” Harry Bertoia (1915 – 1978) was an Italian-born American artist, jewelry creator and modern furniture designer. He was born in San Lorenzo d...

Mexico, 20th century. Style of Janna Thomas. A Sterling Silver rose in a pot - marked to underside.

Sculptor and Jewelry Designer Michael Good designed and hand formed this sterling silver Hyperbolic Paraboloid sculpture on black marble base. Signed M.Good 925. In the Mid-Century Modern Style. Michael worked with famed Finnish-born American master metalsmith Heikki Seppa...

Pair of 19th Century Continental silver table figures of peacocks Germany, Circa 1880s Each one realistically cast, modeled and chased figures/models of standing peacocks...

An exceptional, fine and impressive vintage Elizabeth II English cast sterling silver sculpture or ornament with a granite rock base an addition to our di...

Rare pair of sterling silver sculptural modernist bookends designed by American sculptor Charles O. Perry and crafted by famed Italian silversmith Ubal...

R.W. Smith signed and dated 1971 sterling silver mini abstract sculpture on lucite base. Lucite cube base has one slight blemish to top edge, otherwise nice vintage condition, with l...

Temptation II, is a hand blown glass sculpture by the collaborative artists Hanne Enemark (Danish) and Louis Thompson (British) Incorporating an outer form in clear and pink glass which contains a multitude of white glass canes and candy colored, glass hundreds and thousands. The piece is topped with a glass cherry with a silver sterling stem...

We are delighted to offer for sale this very high-end premium desk art 1995 Sterling Silver Asprey London tape dispenser in its original box A nice decorative piece, this is the p...

We are delighted to offer for sale this stunning very rare Asprey London Goliath pocket watch sitting in its original easel leather backed case wh...

Wonderful set of 14 sterling silver fruit and vegetable objects in form of a pear, a garlic, an onion and an apple, England, Birmingham, 19...