Items Similar to Artist BertoiaStyle Hammered SterlingSilver SquiggleSpiral UndulatingWire Brooch
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Artist BertoiaStyle Hammered SterlingSilver SquiggleSpiral UndulatingWire Brooch
About the Item
Strongly resembling the Harry Bertoia Foundation's archived c.1947 unsigned small brooch (D.JE.27) that is essentially an elegant hammered silver curvilinear three-humped squiggle by the late artist, this modern abstract three-dimensional surprisingly-unsigned brooch is also a single hammered silver wire that was shaped into an undulating three-humped squiggle that instead ends in a spiral. Like the additional wire that is "laced" through the rivets of the archived Bertoia piece to add contrast with angular shapes, our brooch has a contrasting linear element defined by its sharpened pin, which fastens with a c-clasp formed by the hammered curved end.
Its compelling biomorphic design, minimalism, and decades-old patina suggest that it is a mid-century brooch, which could have been made by one of the pioneers of American studio jewelry, such as Alexander Calder or Art Smith who designed in a similar one-off way. However, they usually crafted much larger brooches that could include a maker's mark.
Only limited-edition jewelry reproduced by the Harry Bertoia Foundation includes a branded signature. According to the Foundation, most of Bertoia's one-of-a-kind jewelry that it dates as early as 1934 was made while he was a student at Cranbrook Academy of Art when he used whatever metal materials he could afford.
Significant to our brooch, many of his early brooches have a sharpened pin and hand-tooled bent wire substituting for a hinge and clasp, such as the one of approximately the same 2-inch size in the Foundation archive dated 1939-1943 (D.JE.25), as well as the partly-hammered wire squiggle clasp on the sterling silver necklace dated 1940-1943 (D.JE.50) that has similar tool marks. While at Cranbrook, he also used the distinctive squiggle shape to style a figurative snake as a more complex silver brooch.
After he made the aforementioned pieces and prior to focusing on furniture and sculpture, Bertoia began fabricating metal jewelry that included not only bent and hammered wire but also forged pieces with rivets and/or clamps that characteristically link multiple cut or cast parts often with kinetic properties. Of the hundreds of unique works of jewelry attributed to Bertoia (1915-1978), the majority were made while he was at Cranbrook, which extended to his post-graduate work as a metal-smithing instructor there until 1943.
- Metal:Sterling Silver
- Weight:3 g
- Dimensions:Height: 1.25 in (31.75 mm)Width: 0.07 in (1.78 mm)Depth: 0.25 in (6.35 mm)Length: 2 in (50.8 mm)
- Style:Modern
- Place of Origin:United States
- Period:Early 20th Century
- Date of Manufacture:1930s-1940s
- Condition:Wear consistent with age and use.
- Seller Location:Chicago, IL
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU3244218145472
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