Art Deco Obsidian Brooch

An obsidian arrow framed in silver gives this Art Deco brooch its sharp, modern geometry, the dark volcanic stone set as a clean directional form against the metal. Obsidian was among the Pre-Columbian materials Spratling worked with, the same stone that had appeared in the Monte Albán treasures of gold, jade, obsidian, and turquoise (Morrill, p. 38).

The arrow's spare, angular form aligns with the Art Deco sensibility of the era, geometry taking the place of figural ornament. Two variations of the brooch were made under the same catalog number, a sign of the controlled variation Spratling allowed within a single design.

The brooch is recorded in William Spratling: Folio of Drawings and in Morrill's William Spratling and the Mexican Silver Renaissance: Maestros de Plata. As a documented obsidian-and-silver design surviving in his own drawings, it ties a finished brooch directly to the maker's hand.