Fleur de Paris • Glamorous Retro Clip with Diamond & Burma Rubies in Gold, Paris, 1940s • Hofer Antikschmuck

Glamorous Retro Clip with Diamond & Burma Rubies in Gold, Paris, 1940s
Golden as the sun and fiery red, the large brooch here shines and transports its viewers to midcentury Paris. The center of modern art had never ceased to shine, even in the dark times of war and the deprived immediate post-war period. Unlike in the cities of Germany, for example, magnificent works of jewelry art were created here even in the 1940s, in powerful forms and designs that were intended to make one forget the limitations and narrowness of one's own time. The fascinating clip is a child of this fashion. A large blossom made of high-carat gold is shown here in the tense contrast between abstraction and reproduction of nature. As if moved by invisible power, the golden leaves of the blossom arch and twist around stamens made of untreated rubies from Burma. In the center of the flower, a single diamond glitters in frosty white. The design draws its impact from the interplay of the gemstones and the gleaming polished gold. Typical of the time, the brooch can be worn as a so-called "fur clip" through two pins on the back with a spring mechanism. Clips of this type were among the most popular types of jewelry in the 1930s and 1940s and remained popular until the early postwar period. As their name suggests, they were made to be worn on solid, heavy fabrics like those of the fur coats popular at the time. Their two pins are intended to balance the heavy design. The hallmarking reveals that the brooch originated in Paris. In the 1940s, great pieces of jewelry in shiny yellow gold were created here, after platinum had dominated the jewelry world just a short time before. This can be wonderfully observed in the present clip brooch: It is the large areas of gold, masterfully polished, which give the piece its expression and inner movement. The colorfulness of the rubies complements the design, but it is primarily the gold that creates the lasting impression of the design. Perhaps the warm, golden coloration is a reminder of the grand boulevards of Paris, whose palaces glow in the warm yellow of the sandstone that has been so formative for centuries. And so the brooch becomes a declaration of love for the capital on the Seine, a true Fleur de Paris. For dating, cf. corresponding flower and blossom brooches of the period in David Bennet and Daniela Mascetti: Understanding Jewellery, Woodbridge 2010, pp. 381-386.

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