Domed Silver Cuff with Amethyst Cabochon in Shadow Box

Antonio Pineda's modernist sensibility shows clearly in pieces that contrast a sculptural metal form with a single, precisely set stone, and this domed cuff is built on exactly that tension. From his Taxco workshop, Pineda treated the bracelet as a three-dimensional object first, with the stone setting answering the form rather than dominating it.

The cuff is domed across its width, and an oval amethyst cabochon is set within a recessed shadow-box frame. The rounded, architectural sweep of the silver plays against the geometric containment of the stone.

The bracelet carries Pineda's Antonio crown mark with the 970 silver standard, Hecho en Mexico, and an eagle assay stamp. The crown mark is in use from 1953, which fixes the earliest possible date for the object; the record previously read "1953-present," a workshop range rather than an object date. It is published in Gobi Stromberg, Silver Seduction: The Art of Mexican Modernist Antonio Pineda (2008), p. 139, fig. 168.

Identification: this record formerly carried the title "Architectural Cuff with Amethyst Closure." That title belongs to a different Pineda bracelet, Stromberg fig. 167, which is visibly distinct and marked ZZ750. The slug, the recorded width, the note and the fig. 168 citation held in this record all describe the domed shadow-box cuff, so the record has been retitled to match its own evidence. The fig. 167 bracelet is not catalogued here.