$14,100
Art Moderne Emerald and Smoked Rock Crystal Dress Clip, designed as a carved stylized smoked rock crystal fan bezel-set with a round cabochon emerald, by Madame Suzanne Belperron, maker's mark for Groene et Darde, French gold guarantee stamp. Note: In her article "The Mysterious Madame Belperron" published in Jeweler's Circular-Keystone, May 1992, Dr. Brown describes the Art Deco and Art Moderne designer as "revolutionary". Associated over her career with Cartier, Rene Boivin, and Jean Herz, with whom she established her own business, Belperron's unmistakable work is recognizable by its shape, which Dr. Brown describes as Art Deco angularity transformed into "the rounded arc", and unusual materials. Madame Belperron preferred to work in colorless and smoked rock crystal, citrine, chalcedony, lapis, aquamarine, and moonstone, using colored and colorless diamonds and other gems as accents. Her designs were sought after by a select clientele. Though none of her jewels appears to have been signed, they often bear the "GD" and fleur-de-lis maker's mark of Groene et Darde, the firm that executed many of her designs. Though the designer's work fell into obscurity in the 1970s, the auction of the Duchess of Windsor's Belperron jewels, as well as the enthusiasm of a new generation of collectors, has revitalized the proper appreciation of her art. For another example of her work, see lot 487.
Auctioneer:
Skinner
Date:
2003-03-18
