Art with Gems

[JewelFreak]

I've been playing on Sotheby's website again. Great place to see the work of the truly great jewelry designers. Their work transcends jewelry; I think it's art of the best quality in any medium. I had to share these examples by Michele della Valle, who is equaled by a few but never bested, imho. Whether or not you'd want to wear them (they look more like Queen Elizabeth to me than like ole JewelFreak), the design & execution is stunning. They are gemset sculptures.

Flower heads are diamonds in one, spinels in the other; stems are cabochon green tourmalines; diamond leaves. Mounted in silver & titanium. Estimate for the pair $50,000 to $70,000. A bargain.

 

[stci]

I say: GORGEOUS! Wow!

 

[Arkteia]

No comment... They are probably not meant to be worn... Museum pieces.

 

[JewelFreak]

So delicate looking, you'd think so, Crasru. On the contrary, part of the skill of unsurpassed artists in jewels (David Webb, Verdura, Rene Boivin, Sterle, Oscar Heyman, Schlumberger, Michele della Valle, Cartier from the 20s to the 50s) is creating beautiful & intricate pieces meant to be worn -- and they are, for a few generations so far. They appear regularly at auction, having been worn for decades & will be for more by new owners. The combination of artistic vision, superb materials & craftsmanship makes them so special. I imagine most of them loved creating beautiful things to make women feel & look beautiful wearing them. Here are a few other examples:

 

[iLander]

Ooooh, JF, these are great eye candy! I love the bird pin especially, I would wear that. Of course I would also wear the lovely carnations, those are awesome.

I agree the level of artistry on these is REALLY amazing!

You've probably been on the Christies site too (if somebody finds their site hard to navigate, I usually start by searching rubies on their home page, that gets me past their PDF catalogs), I've spent hours browsing there.

I wanted to play too, so I'm adding a Michele Della Valle brooch from Christies to your thread. Estimate is $12-15K.

Gorgeous stuff, JF.

 

[JewelFreak]

iLander, I noticed that brooch too! Beauty, isn't it? I spend hours on both those auction sites also, walk out of the room with sparkles in my eyes.

Let's keep playing! Here are some more good ones:

 

[minousbijoux]

Oh, Oh! Please keep playing! I don't have anything to add, but I want to see more pretties!

 

[JewelFreak]

Okay, Minou, don't know who's interested but it's fun anyway! Close-up of the Cartier panther bracelet shows their incredible skill; from the modeling those panther heads could be real. Also one of my favorite Webb pieces, and a Boucheron brooch -- they didn't do a lot of this sort of thing, sure succeeded here.

 

[SB621]

ok i would totally wear the cartier panther bracelet!