Amethyst Half Ball Bracelet

Lightweight and built from alternating rows of silver and amethyst, this early bracelet shows Spratling composing with stone as a structural element rather than an accent. Vertical half-balls of silver link to vertical amethysts, then a row of silver, then a row of amethyst, so the design is a woven alternation of metal and stone across its width.

Amethyst was among Spratling's most-used stones, and here it carries equal weight with the silver instead of merely punctuating it. The half-ball silver units pick up the rounded vocabulary that runs through his first-period jewelry.

The light weight points to an early, wearable construction, the stones set in repeating rows to keep color across the whole band. As a first-period silver-and-amethyst bracelet it belongs to the era when Spratling was establishing the material pairings that would define his jewelry, and such early stone-set pieces are encountered only occasionally.